UNIVERSITY OF
AT LOS ANGELES
.*
THE
WRITINGS
OF
THOMAS JEFFERSON:
BEING HIS
AUTOBIOGRAPHY, CORRESPONDENCE, REPORTS, MESSAGES,
ADDRESSES, AND OTHER WRITINGS, OFFICIAL
AND PRIVATE.
IUBLISHED BY THE ORDEE OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE OF CONGRESS OX THE LIBRARY,
FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS,
DEPOSITED IN THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE.
WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES, TABLES OF CONTENTS, AND A COPIOUS INDEX
TO EACH VOLUME, AS WELL AS A GENERAL INDEX TO THE WHOLE,
BY THE EDITOR
H. A. WASHINGTON.
VOL] I.
NEW YOEK :
PUBLISHED BY JOHN C. EIKER, 815 BROADWAY.
1857.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by
TAYLOR & MAURY,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Columbia.
V.I
PREFACE.
MR. JEFFERSON having, by his last will and testament, bequeathed to
his grandson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, all his manuscript papers,
Congress, by an act of the 12th of April, 1848, made an appropriation
for the purpose of purchasing them for the Government ; and, by the
same act, an additional appropriation was made to print and publish
them under the direction and supervision of the Joint Committee on
the Library. It is under the authority of this act that the present pub-
lication is made. The immense mass of manuscript left by Mr. Jefferson
having been deposited with the Editor, he has carefully gone through the
whole, and selected from it, for the present publication, everything which
possesses permanent public interest either on account of its intrinsic
value, or as matter of history, or as illustrating the character of the dis-
tinguished Author, or as embodying his views upon the almost infinite
variety of topics, philosophical, moral, religious, scientific, historical, and
political, so ably discussed by him thus making this work a complete
depository of the writings of Thomas Jefferson. Under the view which the
Editor has taken of his editorial duties, and the instructions of the Li-
brary Committee, he has not felt himself at liberty to encumber the pub-
lication with matter of his own farther than is necessary to illustrate the
text. Such notes as have been appended will, therefore, be found to be
purely explanatory and historical in their character. Under the impress-
ion that the value of such publications as the present depends much
upon facility of reference, a particular Index has been appended to each
volume as well as a general Index to the whole.
CONTENTS TO VOL. I.
BOOK I.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY, 1.
APPENDIX TO AUTOBIOGRAPHY, 111.
BOOK II.
PART I LETTERS WRITTEN BEFORE HIS MISSION TO EUROPE (1773-
1783), 181.
PART II LETTERS WRITTEN WHILE IN EUROPE (1784-1790), 338.
Adams, John, letters written to, 205, 356, 358, 365, 370, 376, 378, 416,
436, 437, 460, 486, 492, 497, 510, 501, 511, 529, 569, 584, 591.
Aranda, Count de, letter written to, 470.
Auberteuil, Billiard d', 535.
Bancroft, Dr., letter written to, 535.
Bannister, J. Jr., letter written to, 466.
Bellini, Mr., letter written to, 443.
Buchanan and Hay, letter written to, 578.
Campbell, Colonel, letter written to, 295.
Carmichael, William, letters written to, 392, 469, 473, 551, 579.
Carr, Peter, letter written to, 395.
Gary, Colonel A., letters written to, 197, 507.
Castries, Monsieur de, letters written to, 361, 374.
Cathalan, Monsieur, letter written to, 600.
Chastellux, Chevalier de, letters written to, 321, 339.
Commissioners of the French Treasury, letter written to, 519.
Crevecoeur Monsieur de, letter written to, 594.
VI
CONTENTS TO VOL. I.
Delegates in Congress, from Georgia, letter written to, 500.
" from Virginia, letters written to, 287, 307.
Desbordes, Monsieur, letter written to, 462.
Drayton, William, letter written to, 554.
Dumas, W. F., letters written to, 528, 552.
Dumas and Short, letter written to 415.
Forrest, Colonel Uriah, letter written to, 338.
Franklin, Dr. Benjamin, letters written to, 204, 448, 525.
Franklin, W. T., letter written to, 555.
French and Nephew, letter written to, 362.
Gates, Major General, letters written to, 238, 251, 254, 260, 262, 266, 268,
275, 294, 314.
Geisner, Baron, letter written to, 427.
Gerry, Eldridge, letters written to, 454, 556.
Governor of Georgia, letter written to, 499.
" Maryland, letter written to, 343.
" Virginia, letters written to, 402, 513, 599.
Greene, Major General, letter written to, 509.
Hartley, David, letter written to, 422.
Henry, Patrick, letter written to, 212.
Hogendorp, letter written to, 463.
Hopkinson, F., letters written to, 440, 503.
Humphreys, Colonel, letters written to, 496, 559.
I/ard, R., letter written to, 441.
Jay, John, letters written to, 332, 339, 344, 380, 384, 403, 408, 452, 4o7.
522, 537, 538, 543, 545, 571, 573, 574, 582, 602.
Jones, John Paul, letters written to, 391, 594.
Jones, Joseph, letter written to, 353.
La Fayette, letters written to, 311, 579, 596.
La Luzerne, Chevalier de, letter written to, 326.
Lambe, Mr., letter written to, 581.
La Morleine, Monsieur, letter written to, 578.
Langdon, John, letter written to, 428.
La Valec, Monsieur de, letter written to, 429.
CONTENTS TO VOL. I. yii
La Rouene, Marquis de, letter written to, 512.
Lee, Richard Henry, letters written to, 204, 540.
Livingston, Robert R. letters written to, 320, 327, 330, 331.
From, 329, 331.
Madison, James, letters written to, 315, 324, 412, 431, 446, 531.
Marbois, Monsieur de, letter written to, 297.
Mathews, Colonel, letter written to, 233.
McPherson, Charles, letter written to, 195.
Monroe, James, letters written to, 317, 345, 358, 405, 526, 564, 586, 605.
From, 316. .
O'Bryan, Richard, letter written to, 477.
Osgood, Samuel, letter written to, 45(i.
Otto, Mr. letter written to, 558
Page, John, letters written to, 181, 184, 186, 188, 189, 190, 191, 193, 210,
399, 548.
Pleasants, T., letter written to, 563.
Poncens, Marquis de, letter written to, 430.
Portail, Monsieur du, letter written to 357,
President of Congress, letters written to, 285, 287, 299, 300, 301, 302, 303,
304.
Price, Dr., letter written to, 376.
Randolph, Edmund, letters written to, 312, 433.
Randolph, John, letters written to, 200, 202.
Riedesel, General de, letter written to, 240.
Rittenhouse, David, letters written to, 210, 515.
Ross, James, letter written to, 560.
St. Victour and Bettinger, letter written to, 570.
Seward, W. \V., letter written to, 478.
Short, William, letter written to, 372.
Small, Dr. William, letter written to, 198.
Steptoe, Mr., letter written to, 323.
Stevens, General Edward, letters written to, 244, 250, 252, 253, 274, 278.
Stewart, A., letter written to, 517.
Style, Dr., letter written to, 363.
viii CONTENTS TO VOL. I.
Thompson, Charles, letters written to, 354, 542.
Thulemeyer, Baron de, letters written to, 368, 469.
Trist, Mrs., letter written to, 394.
Unger, John Louis de, letter written to, 2*78.
Van Staphorst, N. & J., letters written to, 369, 46 1, 471.
Vergennes, Count de, letters written to, 385, 456, 479, 490, 537, 547, 577.
Washington, George, letters written to, 221, 225, 230, 231, 232, 235, 237,
239, 241, 243, 249, 255, 257, 265, 267, 268, 270, 271, 276, 279, 282 ;
291, 292, 296, 297, 304, 305, 309, 313, 325, 333.
From, 328.
Wythe, George, letter written to, 21)
* (address lost), 207, 246, 272, 289.
BOOK I.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY, WITH APPENDIX,
INTRODUCTORY TO BOOK I.
IN the arrangement which has been adopted, Book I. comprises the Autobiography
and Appendix. The Autobiography extends to the 21st of March, 1790, when Mr.
Jefferson arrived in New York to enter upon the duties of the Department of Stiite,
and embraces a variety of important subjects, such as the rise and progress of the
difficulties between Great Britain ad her North American Colonies the circum-
stances connected with the Declaration of Independence the debates in Congress
upon the adoption thereof, as reduced to -writing by Mr. Jefferson at the time the
history of the Articles of Confederation early stages of the French Revolution re-
vision of the Penal Code of Virginia abolition of her laws of Primogeniture over-
throw of her Church Establishment Act of Religious Freedom, &c. all matter
interesting in itself, but rendered particularly so by the fact that it comes from one
who was himself a chief actor in the scenes which he describes.
BOOK I.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY, WITH APPENDIX.
JANUARY 6, 1821. At the age of 77, I begin to make some
memoranda, and state some recollections of dates and facts con-
cerning myself, for my own more ready reference, and for the
information of my family.
The tradition in my father's family was, that their ancestor
came to this country from Wales, and from near the mountain
of Snowdon, the highest in Great Britain. I noted once a case
from Wales, in the law reports, where a person of our name was
either plaintiff or defendant ; and one of the same name was
secretary to the Virginia Company. These are the only in-
stances in which I have met with the name in that country. I
have found it in our early records ; but the first particular infor-
mation I have of any ancestor was of my grandfather, who lived
at the place in Chesterfield called Ozborne's, and owned the
lands afterwards the glebe of the parish. He had three sons ;
Thomas who died young, Field who settled on the waters of
Roanoke and left numerous descendants, and Peter, my father,
who settled on the lands I still own, called Shadwell, adjoining
my present residence. He was born February 29, 1707-8, and
intermarried 1739, with Jane Randolph, of the age of 19, daugh-
ter of Isham Randolph, one of the seven sons of that name and
family, settled at Dungeoness in Goochland. They trace their
pedigree far back in England and Scotland, to which let every
one ascribe the faith and merit he chooses.
VOL. i. 1
2 JEFFEKSON'S WORKS.
My father's education had been quite neglected ; but being of
a strong mind, sound judgment, and eager after information, he
read much and improved himself, insomuch that he was chosen,
with Joshua Fry, Professor of Mathematics in William and Mary
college, to continue the boundary line between Virginia and North
Carolina, which had been begun by Colonel Byrd ; and was af-
terwards employed with the same Mr. Fry, to make the first map
of Virginia which had ever been made, that of Captain Smith
being merely a conjectural sketch. They possessed excellent
materials for so much of the country as is below the blue ridge ;
little being then known beyond that ridge. He was the third
or fourth settler, about the year 1737, of the part of the country
in which I live. He died, August 17th, 1757, leaving my mother
a widow, who lived till 1776, with six daughters and two sons,
myself the elder. To my younger brother he left his estate on
James River, called Snowden, after the supposed birth-place of
the family : to myself, the lands on which I was born and live.
He placed me at the English school at five years of age ; and
at the Latin at nine, where I continued until his death. My
teacher, Mr. Douglas, a clergyman from Scotland, with the ru-
diments of the Latin and Greek languages, taught me the French ;
and on the death of my father, I went to the Reverend Mr.
Maury, a correct classical scholar, with whom I continued two
years ; and then, to wit, in the spring of 1760, went to William
and Mary college, where I continued two years. It was my
great good fortune, and what probably fixed the destinies of my
life, that Dr. William Small of Scotland, was then professor of
Mathematics, a man profound in most of the useful branches of
science, with a happy talent of communication, correct and gen-
tlemanly manners, and an enlarged and liberal mind. He, most
happily for me, became soon attached to me, and made me his
daily companion when not engaged in the school ; and from his
conversation I got my first views of the expansion of science,
and of the system of things in which we are placed. Fortu-
nately, the philosophical chair became vacant soon after my ar-
rival at college, and he was appointed to fill it per interim : and
AUTOBIOGEAPHY. 3
he was the first who ever gave, in that college, regular lectures
in Ethics, Rhetoric and Belles lettres. He returned to Europe in
1762, having previously filled up the measure of his goodness to
me, by procuring for me, from his most intimate friend, George
Wythe, a reception as a student of law, under his direction, and
introduced me to the acquaintance and familiar table of Governor
Fauquier, the ablest man who had ever filled that office. With
him, and at his table, Dr. Small and Mr. Wythe ; his amid om-
nium horarum, and myself, formed n'Jmrtie quarree, and to the
habitual conversations on these occasions I owed much instruc-
tion. Mr. Wythe continued to be my faithful and beloved men-
tor in youth, and my most affectionate friend through life. In
1767, he led me into the practice of the law at the bar of the
General court, at which I continued until the Revolution shut up
the courts of justice.*
In 1769, I became a member of the legislature by the choice
of the county in which I live, and so continued until it was
closed by the Revolution. I made one eifort in that body for
the permission of the emancipation of slaves, which was rejected :
and indeed, during the regal government, nothing liberal could
expect success. Our minds were circumscribed within narrow
limits, by an habitual belief that it was our duty to be subordi-
nate to the mother country in all matters of government, to di-
rect all our labors in subservience to her interests, and even to
observe a bigoted intolerance for all religions but hers. The dif-
ficulties with our representatives were of habit and despair, not
of reflection and conviction. Experience soon proved that they
could bring their minds to rights, on the first summons of their
attention. But the King's Council, which acted as another house
of legislature, held their places at will, and were in most humble
obedience to that will : the Governor too, who had a negative on
our laws, held by the same tenure, and with still greater de-
votedness to it : and, last of all, the Royal negative closed the
last door to every hope of amelioration. -^,
**>
* [See Appendix, note A.]
-~.t <*
4 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
On the 1st of January, 1772, 1 was married to Martha Skelton
widow of Bathurst Skelton, and daughter of John Wayles, then
twenty-three years old. Mr. Wayles was a lawyer of much prac-
tice, to which he was introduced more by his great industry,
punctuality, and practical readiness, than by eminence in the
science of his profession. He was a most agreeable companion,
full of pleasantry and good humor, and welcomed in every so-
ciety. He acquired a handsome fortune, and died in May, 1773,
leaving three daughters : the portion which came on that event
to Mrs. Jefferson, after the debts should be paid, which were very
considerable, was about equal to my own patrimony, and conse-
quently doubled the ease of our circumstances.
When the famous Resolutions of 1765, against the Stamp-act,
were proposed, I was yet a student of law in Williamsburgh. I
attended the debate, however, at the door of the lobby of the
House of Burgesses, and heard the splendid display of Mr. Hen-
ry's talents as a popular orator. They were great indeed ; such
as I have never heard from any other man. He appeared to me
to speak as Homer wrote. Mr. Johnson, a lawyer, and member
from the Northern Neck, seconded the resolutions, and by him
the learning and the logic of the case were chiefly maintained.
My recollections of these transactions may be seen page 60 of
the life of Patrick Henry, by Wirt, to whom I furnished them.
In May, 1769, a meeting of the General Assembly was called
by the Governor, Lord Botetourt. I had then become a member ;
and to that meeting became known the joint resolutions and ad-
dress of the Lords and Commons, of 1768-9, on the proceedings
in Massachusetts. Counter-resolutions, and an address to the
King by the House of Burgesses, were agreed to with little op-
position, and a spirit manifestly displayed itself of considering the
the cause of Massachusetts as a common one. The Governor
dissolved us : but we met the next day in the Apollo* of the
Raleigh tavern, formed ourselves into a voluntary convention,
drew up articles of association against the use of any merchan-
dise imported from Great Britain, signed and recommended them
[* The name of a public room in the Raleigh,]
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 5
to the people, repaired to our several counties, and were re-elected
without any other exception than of the very few who had de-
clined assent to our proceedings.
Nothing of particular excitement occurring for a considerable
time, our countrymen seemed to fall into a state of insensibility
to our situation ; the duty on tea, not yet repealed, and the decla-
ratory act of a right in the British Parliament to bind us by their
laws in all cases whatsoever, still suspended over us. But a court
of inquiry held in Rhode Island in 1762, with a power to send
persons to England to be tried for offences committed here, was
considered, at our session of the spring of 1773, as demanding
attention. Not thinking our old and leading members up to the
point of forwardness and zeal which the times required, Mr.
Henry, Richard Henry Lee, Francis L. Lee, Mr. Carr and my-
self agreed to meet in the evening, in a private room of the
Raleigh, to consult on the state of things. There may have been
a member or two more \Vhom I do not recollect. We were all
sensible that the most urgent of all measures was that of coming
to an understanding with all the other colonies, to consider
the British claims as a common cause to all, and to produce a
unity of action : and, for this purpose, that a committee of corre-
spondence in each colony would be the best instrument for inter-
communication : and that their first measure would probably be,
to propose a meeting of deputies from every colony, at some cen-
tral place, who should be charged with the direction of the meas-
ures which should be taken by all. We, therefore, drew up the
resolutions which may be seen in Wirt, page 87. The consult-
ing members proposed to me to move them, but I urged that it
should be done by Mr. Carr, my friend and brother-in-law, then
a new member, to whom I wished an opportunity should be given
of making known to the house his great worth and talents. It
was so agreed ; he moved them, they were agreed to nem. con.,
and a committee of correspondence appointed, of whom Peyton
Randolph, the speaker, was chairman. The Governor (then Lord
Dunmore) dissolved us, but the committee met the next day, pre-
pared a circular letter to the speakers of the other colonies, in-
6 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
closing to each a copy of the resolutions, and left it in charge
with their chairman to forward them by expresses.
The origination of these committees of correspondence be-
tween the colonies has been since claimed for Massachusetts, and
Marshall* has given into this error, although the very note of his
appendix to which he refers, shows that their establishment
was confined to their own towns. This matter will be seen
clearly stated in a letter of Samuel Adams Wells to me of April
2nd, 1819, and my answer of May 12th. I was corrected by the
letter of Mr. Wells in the information I had given Mr. Wirt, as
stated in his note, page 87, that the messengers of Massachusetts
and Virginia crossed each other on the way, bearing similar propo-
sitions ; for Mr. Wells shows that Massachusetts did not adopt the
measure, but on the receipt of our proposition, delivered at their
next session. Their message, therefore, which passed ours, must
have related to something else, for I well remember Peyton Ran-
dolph's informing me of the crossing of our messengers.f
The next event which excited our sympathies for Massachu-
setts, was the Boston port bill, by which that port was to be shut
up on the 1st of June, 1774. This arrived while we were in
session in the spring of that year. The lead in the House, on
these subjects, being no longer left to the old members, Mr.
Henry, R. H. Lee, Fr. L. Lee, three or four other members,
whom I do not recollect, and myself, agreeing that we must
boldly take an unequivocal stand in the line with Massachusetts,
determined to meet and consult on the proper measures, in the
council-chamber, for the benefit of the library in that room. We
were under conviction of the necessity of arousing our people
from the lethargy into which they had fallen, as to passing events ;
and thought that the appointment of a day of general fasting and
prayer would be most likely to call up and alarm their attention.
No example of such a solemnity had existed since the days of
our distresses in the war of '55, since which a new generation
had grown up. With the help, therefore, of Rushworth, whom
we rummaged over for the revolutionary precedents and forms of
Life of Washington, vol. ii., p. 151. [f See Appendix, note B.]
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 7
the Puritans of that day, preserved by him, we cooked up a reso-
lution, somewhat modernizing their phrases, for appointing the
1st day of June, on which the port-bill was to commence, for a
day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer, to implore Heaven to
avert from us the evils of civil war, to inspire us with firmness in
support of our rights, and to turn the hearts of the King and
Parliament to moderation and justice. To give greater emphasis
to our proposition, we agreed to wait the next morning on Mr.
Nicholas, whose grave and religious character was more in unison
with the tone of our resolution, and to solicit him to move it.
We accordingly went to him in the morning. He moved it the
same day ; the 1st of June was proposed ; and it passed without
opposition. The Governor dissolved us, as usual. We retired
to the Apollo, as before, agreed to an association, and instructed
the committee of correspondence to propose to the corresponding
committees of the other colonies, to appoint deputies to meet in
Congress at such place, annually, as should be convenient, to di-
rect, from time to time, the measures required by the general in-
terest : and we declared that an attack on any one colony, should
be considered as an attack on the whole. This was in May. We
further recommended to the several counties to elect deputies to
meet at Williamsburgh, the 1st of August ensuing, to consider
the state of the colony, and particularly to appoint delegates to a
general Congress, should that measure be acceded to by the com-
mittees of correspondence generally. It was acceded to ; Phila-
delphia was appointed for the place, and the 5th of September
for the time of meeting. We returned home, and in our several
counties invited the clergy to meet assemblies of the people on
the 1st of June, to perform the ceremonies of the day, and to ad-
dress to them discourses suited to the occasion. The people met
generally, with anxiety and alarm in their countenances, and the
effect of the day, through the whole colony, was like a shock of
electricity, arousing every man, and placing him erect and solidly
on his centre. They chose, universally, delegates for the con-
vention. Being elected one for my own county, I prepared a
draught of instructions to be given to the delegates whom we
8 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
should send to the Congress, which I meant to propose at our
meeting.* In this I took the ground that, from the beginning, I
had thought the only one orthodox or tenable, which was, that
the relation between Great Britain and these colonies was ex-
actly the same as that of England and Scotland, after the acces-
sion of James, and until the union, and the same as her present
relations with Hanover, having the same executive chief, but no
other necessary political connection ; and that our emigration
from England to this country gave her no more rights over us,
than the emigrations of the Danes and Saxons gave to the present
authorities of the mother country, over England. . In this doc-
trine, however, I had never been able to get any one to agree
with me but Mr. Wythe. He concurred in it from the first dawn
of the question, What was the political relation between us and
England ? Our other patriots, Randolph, the Lees, Nicholas, Pen-
dleton, stopped at the half-way house of John Dickinson, who
admitted that England had a right to regulate our commerce, and
to lay duties on it for the purposes of regulation, but not of rais-
ing revenue. But for this ground there was no foundation in
compact, in any acknowledged principles of colonization, nor in
reason : expatriation being a natural right, and acted on as such,
by all nations, in all ages. I set out for Williamsburg some days
before that appointed for our meeting, but was taken ill of a dys-
entery on the road, and was unable to proceed. I sent on, there-
fore, to Williamsburgh, two copies of my draught, the one under
cover to Peyton Randolph, who I knew would be in the chair of
tho convention, the other to Patrick Henry. Whether Mr. Henry
disapproved the ground taken, or was too lazy to read it (for he
was the laziest man in reading 1 ever knew) I never learned :
but he communicated it to nobody. Peyton Randolph informed
the convention he had received such a paper from a member, pre-
vented by sickness from offering it in his place, and he laid it on
the table for perusal. It was read generally by the members, ap-
proved by many, though thought too bold for the present state of
things ; but they printed it in pamphlet form, under the title of
[* See Appendix, note C.J
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 9
" A Summary View of the Rights of British America." It found
its way to England, was taken up by the opposition, interpolated
a little by Mr. Burke so as to make it answer opposition pur-
poses, and in that form ran rapidly through several editions. This
information I had from Parson Hurt, who happened at the time
to be in London, whither he had gone to receive clerical orders ;
and I was informed afterwards by Peyton Randolph, that it had
procured me the honor of having my name inserted in a long list
of proscriptions, enrolled in a bill of attainder commenced in one
of the Houses of Parliament, but suppressed in embryo by the
hasty step of events, which warned them to be a little cautious.
Montague, agent of the House of Burgesses in England, made
extracts from the bill, copied the names, and sent them to Peyton
Randolph. The names, I think, were about twenty, which he
repeated to me, but I recollect those only of Hancock, the two
Adamses, Peyton Randolph himself, Patrick Henry, and myself.*
The convention met on the 1st of August, renewed their associ-
ation, appointed delegates to the Congress, gave them instructions
very temperately and properly expressed, both as to style and
matter ;f and they repaired to Philadelphia at the time appointed.
The splendid proceedings of that Congress, at their first session,
belong to general history, are known to every one, and need not
therefore be noted here. They terminated their session on the
26th of October, to meet again on the 10th of May ensuing.
The convention, at their ensuing session of March, '75, approved
of the proceedings of Congress, thanked their delegates, and re-
appointed the same persons to represent the colony at the meet-
ing to be held in May : and foreseeing the probability that Pey-
ton Randolph, their president, and speaker also of the House of
Burgesses, might be called off, they added me, in that event, to
the delegation.
Mr. Randolph was, according to expectation, obliged to leave
the chair of Congress, to attend the General Assembly summoned
by Lord Dunmore, to meet on the 1st day of June, 1775. Lord
* See Girardin's History of Virginia, Appendix No. 12. note,
[f See Appendix, note D.]
10 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
North's conciliatory propositions, as they were called, had been
received by the Governor, and furnished the subject for which
this assembly was convened. Mr. Randolph accordingly attended,
and the tenor of these propositions being generally known, as
having been addressed to all the governors, he was anxious that
the answer of our Assembly, likely to be the first, should har-
monize with what he knew to be the sentiments and wishes of
the body he had recently left. He feared that Mr. Nicholas,
whose mind was not yet up to the mark of the times, would un-
dertake the answer, and therefore pressed me to prepare it. I did
so, and, with his aid, carried it through the House, with long and
doubtful scruples from Mr. Nicholas and James Mercer, and a
dash of cold water on it here and there, enfeebling it somewhat,
but finally with unanimity, or a vote approaching it. This be-
ing passed, I repaired immediately to Philadelphia, and conveyed
to Congress the first notice they had of it. It was entirely ap-
proved there. I took my seat with them on the 21st of June.
On the 24th, a committee which had been appointed to prepare
a declaration of the causes of taking up arms, brought in their
report (drawn I believe by J. Rutledge) which, not being liked,
the House recommitted it, on the 26th, and added Mr. Dickinson
and myself to the committee. On the rising of the House, the
committee having not yet met, I happened to find myself near
Governor W. Livingston, and proposed to him to draw the paper.
He excused himself and proposed that I should draw it. On my
pressing him with urgency, " we are as yet but new acquaint-
ances, sir," said he, " why are you so earnest for my doing it ?"
" Because," said I, " I have been informed that you drew the Ad-
dress to, the people of Great Britain, a production, certainly, of the
finest pen in America." " On that," says he, " perhaps, sir, you
may not have been correctly informed." I had received the in-
formation in Virginia from Colonel Harrison on his return from
that Congress. Lee, Livingston, and Jay had been the com-
mittee for that draught. The first, prepared by Lee, had been
disapproved and recommitted. The second was drawn by Jay,
but being presented by Governor Livingston, had led Colonel
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. H
Harrison into the error. The next morning, walking in the hall
of Congress, many members being assembled, but the House not
yet formed, I observed Mr. Jay speaking to R. H. Lee, and lead-
ing him by the button of his coat to me. " I understand, sir,"
said he to me, " that this gentleman informed you, that Governor
Livingston drew the Address to the people of Great Britain." I
assured him, at once, that I had not received that information from
Mr. Lee, and that not a word had ever passed on the subject be-
tween Mr. Lee and myself; and after some explanations the sub-
ject was dropped. These gentlemen had had some sparrings in
debate before, and continued ever very hostile to each other.
I prepared a draught of the declaration committed to us. It
was too strong for Mr. Dickinson. He still retained the hope of
reconciliation with the mother country, and was unwilling it
should be lessened by offensive statements. He was so honest a
man, and so able a one, that he was greatly indulged even by
those who could not feel his scruples. We therefore requested
him to take the paper, and put it into a form he could approve.
He did so, preparing an entire new statement, and preserving of
the former only the last four paragraphs and half of the preceding
one. We approved and reported it to Congress, who accepted it.
Congress gave a signal proof of their indulgence to Mr. Dickinson,
and of their great desire not to go too fast for any respectable part
of our body, in permitting him to draw their second petition to
the King according to his own ideas, and passing it with scarcely
any amendment. The disgust against this humility was general ;
and Mr. Dickinson's delight at its passage was the only circum-
stance which reconciled them to it. The vote being passed, al-
though further observation on it was out of order, he could not
refrain from rising and expressing his satisfaction, and concluded
by saying, " there is but one word, Mr. President, in the paper
which I disapprove, and that is the word Congress ;" on which
Ben Harrison rose and said, " There is but one word in the
paper, Mr. President, of which I approve, and that is the word
Congress"
On the 22d of July, Dr. Franklin, Mr. Adams, R. H. Lee, and
12 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
myself, were appointed a committee to consider and report on
Lord North's conciliatory resolution. The answer of the Vir-
ginia Assembly on that subject having been approved, I was re-
quested by the committee to prepare this report, which will ac-
count for the similarity of feature in the two instruments.
On the 15th of May, 1776, the convention of Virginia in-
structed their delegates in Congress, to propose to that body to
declare the colonies independent of Great Britain, and appointed
a committee to prepare a declaration of rights and plan of gov-
ernment.
*In Congress, Friday, June 7, 1776. The delegates from Vir-
ginia moved, in obedience to instructions from their constituents,
that the Congress should declare that these United colonies are,
and of right ought to be, free and independent states, that they
are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all
political connection between them and the state of Great Britain
is, and ought to be, totally dissolved ; that measures should be
immediately taken for procuring the assistance of foreign powers,
and a Confederation be formed to bind the colonies more closely
together.
The House being obliged to attend at that time to some other
business, the proposition was referred to the next day, when the
members were ordered to attend punctually at ten o'clock.
Saturday, June 8. They proceeded to take it into considera-
tion, and referred it to a committee of the whole, into Avhich they
immediately resolved themselves, and passed that day and Mon-
day, the 10th, in debating on the subject.
It was argued by Wilson, Robert R. Livingston, E. Rutledge,
Dickinson, and others
That, though they were friends to the measures themselves,
and saw the impossibility that we should ever again be united
[* Here, in the original manuscript, commence the " two preceding sheet*" referred
to by Mr. Jefferson, page 26, as containing " notes" taken by him " whilst these
things were going on." They are easily distinguished from the body of the MS. in
which they were inserted by him, being of a paper very different in size, quality aud
color, from that in which the latter is written.]
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 13
with Great Britain, yet they were against adopting them at this
time :
That the conduct we had formerly observed was wise and
proper now, of deferring to take any capital step till the voice of
the people drove us into it :
That they were our power, and without them our declararations
could not be carried into effect :
That the people of the middle colonies (Maryland, Delaware,
Pennsylvania, the Jerseys and New York) were not yet ripe for
bidding adieu to British connection, but that they were fast ripen-
ing, and, in a short time, would join in the general voice of
America :
That the resolution, entered into by this House on the 15th of
May, for suppressing the exercise of all powers derived from the
crown, had shown, by the ferment into which it had thrown
these middle colonies, that they had not yet accommodated their
minds to a separation from the mother country :
That some of them had expressly forbidden their delegates to
consent to such a declaration, and others had given no instruc-
tions, and consequently no powers to give such consent :
That if the delegates of any particular colony had no power
to declare such colony independent, certain they were, the others
could not declare it for them ; the colonies being as yet perfectly
independent of each other :
That the assembly of Pennsylvania was now sitting above
stairs, their convention would sit within a few days, the conven-
tion of New York was now sitting, and those of the Jerseys and
Delaware counties would meet on the Monday following, and it
was probable these bodies would take up the question of Inde-
pendenca, and would declare to their delegates the voice of
their state :
That if such a declaration should now be agreed to, these del-
egates must retire, and possibly their colonies might secede from
the Union :
That such a secession would weaken us more than could be
compensated by any foreign alliance :
14 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
That in the event of such a division, foreign powers would
either refuse to join themselves to our fortunes, or, having us so
much in their power as that desperate declaration would place us,
they would insist on terms proportionably more hard and preju-
dicial :
That we had little reason to expect an alliance with those to
whom alone, as yet, we had cast our eyes :
That France and Spain had reason to be jealous of that rising
power, which would one day certainly strip them of all their
American possessions :
That it was more likely they should form a connection with
the British court, who, if they should find themselves unable
otherwise to extricate themselves from their difficulties, would
agree to a partition of our teritories, restoring Canada to France,
and the Floridas to Spain, to accomplish for themselves a recov-
ery of these colonies :
That it would not be long before we should receive certain in-
formation of the disposition of the French court, from the agent
whom we had sent to Paris for that purpose :
That if this disposition should be favorable, by waiting the
event of the present campaign, which we all hoped would be suc-
cessful, we should have reason to expect an alliance on better
terms:
That this would in fact work no delay of any effectual aid
from such ally, as, from the advance of the season and distance
of our situation, it was impossible we could receive any assist-
ance during this campaign :
That it was prudent to fix among ourselves the terms on which
we should form alliance, before we declared we would form one
at all events :
And that if these were agreed on, and our Declaration of Inde-
pendence ready by the time our Ambassador should be prepared
to sail, it would be as well as to go into that Declaration at this day.
On the other side, it was urged by J. Adams, Lee, Wythe, and
others, that no gentleman had argued against the policy or the
right of separation from Britain, nor had supposed it possible we
AUTOBIOGKAPHY. 15
should ever renew our connection ; that they had only opposed
its being now declared :
That the question was not whether, by a Declaration of Inde-
pendence, we should make ourselves what we are not ; but
whether we should declare a fact which already exists :
That, as to the people or parliament of England, we had al-
ways been independent of them, their restraints on our trade de-
riving efficacy from our acquiescence only, and not from any
rights they possessed of imposing them, and that so far, our con-
nection had been federal only, and was now dissolved by the
commencement of hostilities :
That, as to the King, we had been bound to him by allegiance, -,
but that this bond was now dissolved by his assent to the last act
of Parliament, by which he declares us out of his protection, and
by his levying war on us, a fact which had long ago proved us out
of his protection ; it being a certain position in law, that allegi-
ance and protection are reciprocal, the one ceasing when the other
is withdrawn :
That James the II. never declared the people of England out
of his protection, yet his actions proved it, and the Parliament
declared it :
No delegates then can be denied, or ever want, a power of de-
claring an existing truth :
That the delegates from the Delaware counties having declared
their constituents ready to join, there are only two colonies, Penn-
sylvania and Maryland, whose delegates are absolutely tied up,
and that these had, by their instructions, only reserved a right of
confirming or rejecting the measure :
That the instructions from Pennsylvania might be accounted
for from the times in which they were drawn, near a twelvemonth
ago, since which the face of affairs has totally changed :
That within that time, it had become apparent that Britain was
determined to accept nothing less than a carte-blanche, and that
the King's answer to the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Common
Council of London, which had come to hand four days ago, must
have satisfied every one of this point :
IQ JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
That the people wait for us to lead the way :
That they are in favor of the measure, though the instructions
given by some of their representatives are not :
That the voice of the representatives is not always consonant
with the voice of the people, and that this is remarkably the case
in these middle colonies :
That the effect of the resolution of the 15th of May has proved
this, which, raising the murmurs of some in the colonies of Penn-
sylvania and Maryland, called forth the opposing voice of the freer
part of the people, and proved them to be the majority even in
these colonies :
That the backwardness of these two colonies might be as-
cribed, partly to the influence of proprietary power and connections,
and partly, to their having not yet been attacked by the enemy :
That these causes were not likely to be soon removed, as there
seemed no probability that the enemy would make either of these
the seat of this summer's war :
That it would be vain to wait either weeks or months for per-
fect unanimity, since it was impossible that all men should ever
become of one sentiment on any question :
That the conduct of some colonies, from the beginning of this
contest, had given reason to suspect it was their settled policy
to keep in the rear of the confederacy, that their particular pros-
pect might be better, even in the worst event :
That, therefore, it was necessary for those colonies who had
thrown themselves forward and hazarded all from the beginning,
to come forward now also, and put all again to their own hazard :
That the history of the Dutch Revolution, of whom three states
only confederated at first, proved that a secession of some colonies
would not be so dangerous as some apprehended :
That a declaration of Independence alone could render it con-
sistent with Europeon delicacy, for European powers to treat with
us, or even to receive an Ambassador from us :
That till this, they would not receive our vessels into their
ports, nor acknowledge the adjudications of our courts of admi-
rality to be legitimate, in cases of capture of British vessels :
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 17
That though France and Spain may be jealous of our rising
power, they must think it will be much more formidable with the
addition of Great Britain ; and will therefore see it their interest
to prevent a coalition ; but should they refuse, we shall be but
where we are ; whereas without trying, we shall never know
whether they will aid us or not :
That the present campaign may be unsuccessful, and therefore
we had better propose an alliance while our affairs wear a hope-
ful aspect :
That to wait the event of this campaign will certainly work
delay, because, duriiig the summer, France may assist us effectu-
ally, by cutting off those supplies of provisions from England and
Ireland, on which the enemy's armies here are to depend ; or by
setting in motion the great power they have collected in the West
Indies, and calling our enemy to the defence of the possessions
they have there :
That it would be idle to lose time in settling the terms of alli-
ance, till we had first determined we would enter into alliance :
That it is necessary to lose no time in opening a trade for our
people, who will want clothes, and will want money too, for the
payment of taxes :
And that the only misfortune is, that we did not enter into alli-
ance with France six months sooner, as, besides opening her ports
for the vent of our last year's produce, she might have marched
an army into Germany, and prevented the petty princes there,
from selling their unhappy subjects to subdue us.
It appearing in the course of these debates, that the colonies of
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and
South Carolina were not yet matured for falling from the parent
stem, but that they were fast advancing to that state, it was
thought most prudent to wait a while for them, and to postpone
the final decision to July 1st ; but, that this might occasion as
little delay as possible, a committee was appointed to prepare a
Declaration of Independence. The committee were John Adams,
Dr. -Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert R. Livingston, and myself.
Committees were also appointed, at the same time, to prepare a
VOL i 2
18 JEFFEKSON'S WORKS.
plan of confederation for the colonies, and to state the terms
proper to be proposed for foreign alliance. The committee for
drawing the Declaration of Independence, desired me to do it.
It was accordingly done, and being approved by them, I reported
it to the House on Friday, the 28th of June, when it was read,
and ordered to lie on the table. On Monday, the 1st of July, the
House resolved itself into a committee of the whole, and re-
sumed the consideration of the original motion made by the dele-
gates of Virginia, which, being again debated through the day,
was carried in the affirmative by the votes of New Hampshire,
Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maryland,
Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia. South Carolina and Penn-
sylvania voted against it. Delaware had but two members
present, and they were divided. The delegates from New York
declared they were for it themselves, and were assured their con-
stituents were for it ; but that their instructions having been
drawn near a twelvemonth before, when reconciliation was still
the general object, they were enjoined by them to do nothing
which should impede that object. They, therefore, thought
themselves not justifiable in voting on either side, and asked leave
to withdraw from the question ; which was given them. The
committee rose and reported their resolution to the House. Mr.
Edward Rutledge, of South Carolina, then requested the deter-
mination might be put off to the next day, as he believed his
colleagues, though they disapproved of the resolution, would then
join in it for the sake of unanimity. The ultimate question,
whether the House would agree to the resolution of the com-
mittee, was accordingly postponed to the next day, when it was
again moved, and South Carolina concurred in voting for it. In
the meantime, a third member had come post from the Delaware
counties, and turned the vote of that colony in favor of the reso-
lution. Members of a different sentiment attending that morning
from Pennsylvania also, her vote was changed, so that the whole
twelve colonies who were authorized to vote at all, gave their
voices for it ; and, within a few days,* the convention of New
* July 9.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 19
York approved of it, and thus supplied the void occasioned by the
withdrawing of her delegates from the vote.
Congress proceeded the same day to consider the Declaration
of Independence, which had been reported and lain on the table
the Friday preceding, and on Monday referred to a committee of
the whole. The pusillanimous idea that we had friends in Eng-
land worth keeping terms with, still haunted the minds of many.
For this reason, those passages which conveyed censures on the
people of England were struck out, lest they should give them
offence. The clause too, reprobating the enslaving the inhabit-
ants of Africa, was struck out in complaisance to South Carolina *
and Georgia, who had never attempted to restrain the importation
of slaves, and who, on the contrary, still wished to continue it.
Our northern brethren also, I believe, felt a little tender under those
censures ; for though their people had very few slaves themselves,
yet they had been pretty considerable carriers of them to others.
The debates, having taken up the greater parts of the 2d, 3d, and
4th days of July, were, on the evening of the last, closed ; the
Declaration was reported by the committee, agreed to by the
House, and signed by every member present, except Mr. Dickin-
son. As the sentiments of men are known not only by what
they receive, but what they reject also, I will state the form of
the Declaration as originally reported. The parts struck out by
Congress shall be distinguished by a black line drawn under
them ;* and those inserted by them shall be placed in the margin,
or in a concurrent column.
A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of
America, in General Congress assembled.
When, in the course of human events, it becomes
necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands
which have connected them with another, and to as-
sume among the powers of the earth the separate and
[* In this publication, the parts struck out are printed in Italics and inclosed in
brackets.]
20 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
equal station to which the laws of nature and of na-
ture's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opin-
ions of mankind requires that they should declare the
causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self evident : that all
men are created equal ; that they are endowed by
certain their creator with [inherent and] inalienable rights ;
that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness ; that to secure these rights, governments
are instituted among men, deriving their just powers
from the consent of the governed ; that whenever any
form of government becames destructive of these ends,
it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and
to institute new government, laying its foundation on
such principles, and organizing its powers in such form,
as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety
and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that
governments long established should not be changed
for light and transient causes ; and accordingly all ex-
perience hath shown that mankind are more disposed
to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right them-
selves by abolishing the forms to which they are ac-
customed. But when a long train of abuses and usurp-
ations, [begun at a distinguished period and] pursu-
ing invariably the same object, evinces a design to re-
duce them under absolute despotism, it is their right,
it is their duty to throw off such government, and to
provide new guards for their future security. Such
has been the patient sufferance of these colonies ; and
such is now the necessity which constrains them to
alter [expunge] their former systems of government. The
history of the present king of Great Britain is a his-
repeated tory of [unremitting] injuries and usurpations, [among
which appears no solitary fact to contradict the uniform
aii bavin? tenor of the rest, but all have] in direct object the
establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 21
To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world
[for the truth of which we pledge a faith yet unsullied
by falsehood.]
He has refused his assent to laws the most whole-
some and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of im-
mediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in
their operation till his assent should be obtained ; and,
when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend
to them.
He has refused to pass other laws for the accommo-
dation of large districts of people, unless those people
would relinquish the right of representation in the
legislature, a right inestimable to them, and formidable
to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places
unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the deposi-
tory of their public records, for the sole purpose of
fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly
[and continually] for opposing with manly firmness
his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time after such dissolu-
tions to cause others to be elected, whereby the legis-
lative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned
to the people at large for their exercise, the state re-
maining, in the meantime, exposed to all the dangers
of invasion from without and convulsions within.
He has endeavored to prevent the population of
these states ; for that purpose obstructing the laws for
naturalization of foreigners, refusing to pass others to
encourage their migrations hither, and raising the con-
ditions of new appropriations of lands.
He has [suffered] the administration of justice [to- obstructed
tally to cease in some of these states] refusing his as- by
sent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.
22 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
He has made [our] judges dependent on his will
alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount
and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of new offices, [by a
self-assumed power] and sent hither swarms of new
officers to harass our people and eat out their sub-
stance.
He has kept among us in times of peace standing
armies [and ships of war] without the consent of our
legislatures.
He has affected to render the military independent
of, and superior to, the civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a ju-
risdiction foreign to our constitutions and unacknowl-
edged by our laws, giving his assent to their acts of
pretended legislation for quartering large bodies of
armed troops among us ; for protecting them by a
mock trial from punishment for any murders which
they should commit on the inhabitants of these states;
for cutting off our trade with all parts of the world ;
for imposing taxes on us without our consent ; for de-
.n many cases priving us [ ] of the benefits of trial by jury ; for trans-
porting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended of-
fences ; for abolishing the free system of English laws
in a neighboring province, establishing therein an ar-
bitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so
as to render it at once an example and fit instrument
for introducing the same absolute rule into these
colonies [states] ; for taking away our charters, abolishing our
most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the
forms of our governments ; for suspending our own
legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with
power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
out d ofhil na >r" ^ e ^ as a bdicated government here [withdrawing
ShTO his S overn o r s, and declaring us out of his allegiance
against ua. an ^ protection.]
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 23
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts,
burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our peo-
ple.
He is at this time transporting large armies of for-
eign mercenaries to complete the works of death, deso-
lation and tyranny already begun with,; circumstances
of cruelty and perfidy f 1 unworthy the head of a scarcely parai-
' * L J * leledinthe
civilized nation. mostbarta-
roug ages, and
He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive totall y
on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to
become the executioners of their friends and brethren,
or to fall themselves by their hands.
He has [ ] endeavored to bring on the inhabitants ucl^i-re**
of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose j^J ong U!S
known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruc-
tion of all ages, sexes and conditions [of existence.]
[He has incited treasonable insurrections of our fel-
low citizens, with the allurements of forfeiture and
confiscation of our property. ..
He has waged cruel war against human nature it- ^
self, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty
in the persons of a distant people who never offended
him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in
another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their
transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the
opprobium of INFIDEL powers, is the warfare of the
CHRISTIAN king' of Great Britain. Determined to
keep open a market where MEN should be bought and
sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing
every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this
execrable commerce. And that this assemblage of hor-
rors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now
exciting those very people to rise in arms among us,
and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived
them, by murdering the people on whom he also ob-
truded them : thus pay ing off former crimes committed
24 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
against the LIBERTIES of one people, with crimes which
he urges them to commit against the LIVES of another.]
In every stage of these oppressions we have petition-
ed for redress in the most humble terms : our repeated
petitions have been answered only by repeated injuries.
A prince whose character is thus marked by every
act which may define a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of
free a [ ] people [who mean to be free. Future ages will
scarcely believe that the hardiness of one man adven-
tured, within the short compass of twelve years only,
to lay a foundation so broad and so undisguised for
tyranny over a people fostered and fixed in principles
of freedom.]
Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our
British brethren. We have warned them from time
abie Unwarrant to time of attempts by their legislature to extend [a]
us jurisdiction over [these our states]. We have re-
minded them of the circumstances of our emigration
and settlement here, [no one of which could warrant
so strange a pretension : that these were effected at
the expense of our own blood and treasure, unassisted
by the wealth or the strength of Great Britain : that
in constituting indeed our several forms of govern-
ment, we had adopted one common king, thereby lay-
ing a foundation for perpetual league and amity
with them : but that submission to their parliament
was no part of our constitution, nor ever in idea, if
have history may be credited: and,} we [ ] appealed to
wnj*red ha them their native justice and magnanimity [as well as to]
the ties of our common kindred to disavow these
wonid inevit- usurpations which [were likely to] interrupt our con-
nection and correspondence. They too have been
deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity,
[and when occasions have been given them, by the
regular course of their laws, of removing from their
councils the disturbers of our harmony, they have, by
AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
25
their free election, re-established them in power. At
this very time too, they are permitting their chief
magistrate to send over not only soldiers of our com-
mon blood, but Scotch and foreign mercenaries to in-
vade and destroy its. These facts have given the last
stab to agonizing affection, and manly spirit bids us
to renounce forever these unfeeling brethren. We
must endeavor to forget our former love for them, and
hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies
in war, in peace friends. We might have been a free
and a great people together ; but a communication
of grandeur and of freedom, it seems, is below their
dignity. Be it so, since they will have it. The road
to happiness and to glory is open to us too. We
will tread it apart from them, and] acquiesce in the
necessity which denounces our [eternal] separa-
tion [ ] !
We therefore the representa-
tives of the United States of
America in General Congress
assembled, do in the name, and
by the authority of the good
people of these [states reject
and renounce all allegiance and
subjection to the kings of Great
Britain and all others who may
hereafter claim by, through or
under them ; we utterly dissolve
all political connection which
may heretofore have subsisted
between us and the people or
parliament of Great Britain :
and finally we do assert and
declare these colonies to be free
therefore
and hold them
as we hold the
rest of man-
kind, enemies
in war, in
peace friends.
We, therefore, the representa-
tives of the United States of
America in General Congress
assembled, appealing to the su-
preme judge of the world for
the rectitude of our intentions,
do in the name, and by the au-
thority of the good people of
these colonies, solemnly publish
and declare, that these united
colonies are, and of right ought
to be free and independent
states; that they are absolved
from all allegiance to the British
crown, and that all political con-
nection between them and the
state of Great Britain is, and
26
JEFFEKSON'S WOEKS.
and independent states,] and
that as free and independen
states, they have full power to
levy war, conclude peace, con-
tract alliances, establish com-
merce, and to do all other acts
and things which independent
states may of right do.
And for the support of this
declaration, we mutually pledge
to each other our lives, our for-
tunes, and our sacred honor.
ought" to be, totally dissolved ;
and that as free and independent
states, they have full power to
levy war, conclude peace, con-
tract alliances, establish com-
merce, and to do all other acts
and things which independent
states may of right do.
And for the support of this
declaration, with a firm reliance
on the protection of divine prov-
idence, we mutually pledge to
each other our lives, our for-
tunes, and our sacred honor.
The Declaration thus signed on the 4th, on paper, was en-
grossed on parchment, and signed again on the 2d of August.
[Some erroneous statements of the proceedings on the Declara-
tion of Independence having got before the public in latter times,
Mr. Samuel A. Wells asked explanations of me, which are given
in my letter to him of May 12, '19, before and now again refer-
red to.* I took notes in my place while these things were going
on, and at their close wrote them out in form and with correct-
ness, and from 1 to 7 of the two preceding sheets, are the origin-
als then written ; as the two following are of the earlier debates
on the Confederation, which I took in like manner. |]
On Friday, July 12, the committee appointed to draw the arti-
cles of Confederation reported them, and, on the 22d, the House
resolved themselves into a committee to take them into considera-
tion. On the 30th and 31st of that month, and 1st of the en-
suing, those articles were debated which determined the propor-
[* See Appendix, note B.]
[f The above note of the author is on a slip of paper, pasted in at the end of
the Declaration. Here is also sewed into the MS. a slip of newspaper containing,
under the head " Declaration of Independence," a letter from Thomas M'Kean, to
Messrs. William M'Corkle <t Son, dated ' Philadelphia, June 16, 1817." This letter
it to be found in the Port Folio, Sept. 1817, p. 249.]
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 27
tion, or quota, of money which each state should furnish to the
common treasury, and the manner of voting in Congress. The
first of these articles was expressed in the original draught in
these words. " Art. XI. All charges of war and all other ex-
penses that shall be incurred for the common defence, or general
welfare, and allowed by the United States assembled, shall be de-
frayed out of a common treasury, which shall be supplied by the
several colonies in proportion to the number of inhabitants of every
age, sex, and quality, except Indians not paying taxes, in each
colony, a true account of which, distinguishing the white inhabit-
ants, shall be triennially taken and transmitted to the Assembly
of the United States."
Mr^jQhase moved that the quotas should be fixed, not by the
number of inhabitants of every condition, but by that of the
" white inhabitants." He admitted that taxation should be al-
ways in proportion to property, that this was, in theory, the true
rule ; but that, from a variety of difficulties, it was a rule which
could never be adopted in practice. The value of the property in
every State, could never be estimated justly and equally. Some
other measure for the wealth of the State must therefore be de-
vised, some standard referred to, which would be more simple.
He considered the number of inhabitants as a tolerably good cri-
terion of property, and that this might always be obtained. He
therefore thought it the best mode which we could\ adopt, with
one exception only : he observed that negroes are property, and
as such, cannot be distinguished from the lands or personalities
held in those States where there are few slaves ; that the surplus
of profit which a Northern farmer is able to lay by, he invests in
cattle, horses, &c., whereas a Southern farmer lays out the same
surplus in slaves. There is no more reason, therefore, for taxing
the Southern States on the fanner's head, and on his slave's head,
than the Northern ones on their farmer's heads and the heads of
their cattle ; that the method proposed would, therefore, tax the
Southern States according to their numbers and their wealth con-
junctly, while the Northern would be taxed on numbers only :
that negroes, in fact, should not be considered as members of
28 JEFFEKSON'S WORKS.
the State, more than cattle, and that they have no more interest
in it.
Mr. John Adams observed, that the numbers of people were
taken by this article, as an index of the wealth of the State, and
not as subjects of taxation ; that, as to this matter, it was of no
consequence by what name you called your people, whether by
that of freemen or of slaves ; that in some countries the laboring
poor were called freemen, in others they were called slaves ; but
that the difference as to the state was imaginary only. What mat-
ters it whether a landlord, employing ten laborers on his farm,
gives them annually as much money as will buy them the neces-
saries of life, or gives them those necessaries at short hand ? The
ten laborers add as much wealth annually to the State, increase its
exports as much in the one case as the other. Certainly five
hundred freemen produce no more profits, no greater surplus for
the payment of taxes, than five hundred slaves. Therefore, the
State in which are the laborers called freemen, should be taxed no
more than that in which are those called slaves. Suppose, by an
extraordinary operation of nature or of law, one half the laborers
of a State could in the course of one night be transformed into
slaves ; would the State be made the poorer or the less able to pay
taxes ? That the condition of the laboring poor in most coun-
tries, that of the fishermen particularly of the Northern States, is
as abject as that of slaves. It is the number of laborers which
produces the surplus for taxation, and numbers, therefore, indis-
criminately, are the fair index of wealth ; that it is the use of the
word " property" here, and its application to some of the people
of the State, which produces the fallacy. How does the South-
ern farmer procure slaves ? Either by importation or by purchase
from his neighbor. If he imports a slave, he adds one to the
number of laborers in his country, and proportionably to its profits
and abilities to pay taxes ; if he buys from his neighbor, it is only
a transfer of a laborer from one farm to another, which does not
change the annual produce of the State, and therefore, should not
change its tax : that if a Northern farmer works ten laborers on
his farm, he can, it is true, invest the surplus of ten men's labor
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 29
in cattle ; but so may the Southern farmer, working ten slaves ;
that a State of one hundred thousand freemen can maintain no
more cattle, than one of one hundred thousand slaves. There-
fore, they have no more of that kind of property ; that a slave
may indeed, from the custom of speech, be more properly called
the wealth of his master, than the free laborer might be called
the wealth of his employer ; but as to the State, both were equally
its wealth, and should, therefore, equally add to the quota of its tax.
Mr. Harrison proposed, as a compromise, that two slaves should
be counted as one freeman. He affirmed that sjaves did not do
as much work as freemen, and doubted if two effected more than
one ; that this was proved by the price of labor ; the hire of a
laborer in the Southern colonies being from 8 to 12, while in
the Northern it was generally 24.
Mr. Wilson said, that if this amendment should take place, the
Southern colonies would have all the benefit of slaves, whilst the
Northern ones would bear the burthen : that slaves increase the
profits of a State, which the Southern States mean to take to them-
selves ; that they also increase the burthen of defence, which
would of course fall so much the heavier on the Northern : that
slaves occupy the places of freemen, and eat their food. Dismiss
your slaves, and freemen will take their places. It is our duty to
lay every discouragement on the importation of slaves ; but this
amendment would give the jus triiun liberorum to him who
would import slaves : that other kinds of property were pretty
equally distributed through all the colonies : there were as many
cattle, horses and sheep, in the North as the South, and South as
the North ; but not so as to slaves : that experience has shown
that those colonies have been always able to pay most, which
have the most inhabitants, whether they be black or white ; and
the practice of the Southern colonies has always been to make
every farmer pay poll taxes upon all his laborers, whether they
be black or white. He acknowledges, indeed, that freemen work
the most ; but they consume the most also. They do not pro-
duce a greater surplus for taxation. The slave is neither fed nor
clothed so expensively as a freeman. Again, white women are
30 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
exempted from labor generally, but negro women are not. In
this, then, the Southern States have an advantage as the article
now stands. It has sometimes been said, that slavery is neces-
sary, because the commodities they raise would be too clear for
market if cultivated by freemen ; but now it is said that the labor
of the slave is the dearest.
Mr. Payne urged the original resolution of Congress, to propor-
tion the quotas of the States to the number of souls.
Dr. Witherspoon was of opinion, that the value of lands and
houses was the best estimate of the wealth of a nation, and that
it was practicable to obtain such a valuation. This is the true
barometer of wealth. The one now proposed is imperfect in it-
self, and unequal between the States. It has been objected that
negroes eat the food of freemen, and, therefore, should be taxed ;
horses also eat the food of freemen ; therefore they also should be
taxed. It has been said too, that in carrying slaves into the esti-
mate of the taxes the State is to pay, we do no more than those
States themselves do, who always take slaves into the estimate of
the taxes the individual is to pay. But the cases are not parallel.
In the Southern colonies slaves pervade the whole colony ; but
they do not pervade the whole continent. That as to the original
resolution of Congress, to proportion the quotas according to the
souls, it was temporary only, and related to the moneys heretofore
emitted : whereas we are now entering into a new compact, and
therefore stand on original ground.
August 1. The question being put, the amendment proposed
was rejected by the votes of New Hampshire, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Penn-
sylvania, against those of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North
and South Carolina. Georgia was divided.
The other article was in these words. '<Art. XVII. In deter-
mining questions, each colony sh'all have one vote."
July 30, 31, August 1. Present forty-one members. Mr.
Chase observed this article was the most likely to divide us, of
any one proposed in the draught then under consideration : that
the larger colonies had threatened they would not confederate at
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 31
all, if their weight in Congress should not be equal to the num-
bers of people they added to the confederacy ; while the smaller
ones declared against a union, if they did not retain an equal vote
for the protection of their rights. That it was of the utmost con-
sequence to bring the parties together, as, should we sever from
each other, either no foreign power will ally with us at all, or the
different States will form different alliances, and thus increase the
horrors of those scenes of civil war and bloodshed, which in such
a state of separation and independence, would render us a miserable
people. That our importance, our interests, our peace required that
we should confederate, and that mutual sacrifices should be made
to effect a compromise of this difficult question. He was of opinion,
the smaller colonies would lose their rights, if they were not fh
some instances allowed an equal vote ; and, therefore, that a dis-
crimination should take place among the questions which would
come before Congress. That the smaller States should be se-
cured in all questions concerning life or liberty, and the greater
ones, in all respecting property. He, therefore, proposed, that in
votes relating to money, the voice of each colony should be pro-
portioned to the number of its inhabitants.
Dr. Franklin thought, that the votes should be so proportioned
in all cases. He took notice that the Delaware counties had
bound up their delegates to disagree to this article. He thought
it a very extraordinary language to be held by any State, that they
would not confederate with us, unless we would let them dispose
of our money. Certainly, if we vote equally, we ought to pay
equally ; but the smaller States will hardly purchase the privilege
at this price. That had he lived in a State where the representa-
tion, originally equal, had become unequal by time and accident,
he might have submitted rather than disturb government ; but
that we should be very wrong to set out in this practice, when it
is in our power to establish what is right. That at the time of
the Union between England and Scotland, the latter had made
the objection which the smaller States now do ; but experience
had proved that no unfairness had ever been shown them : that
their advocates had prognosticated that it would again happen, as
32 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
in times of old, that the whale would swallow Jonas, but he
thought the prediction reversed in event, and that Jonas had swal-
lowed the whale ; for the Scotch had in fact got possession of the
government, and gave laws to the English. He reprobated the
original agreement of Congress to vote by colonies, and, there-
fore, was for their voting, in all cases, according to the number
of taxables.
Dr. Witherspoon opposed every alteration of the article. All
men admit that a confederacy is necessary. Should the idea get
abroad that there is likely to be no union among us, it will damp
the minds of the people, diminish the glory of our straggle, and
lessen its importance ; because it will open to our view future
prospects of war and dissension among ourselves. If an equal
vote be refused, the smaller States will become vassals to the
larger ; and all experience has shown that the vassals and subjects
of free States are the most enslaved. He instanced the Helots of
Sparta, and the provinces of Rome. He observed that foreign
powers, discovering this blemish, would make it a handle for dis-
engaging the smaller States from so unequal a confederacy. That
the colonies should in fact be considered as individuals ; and that,
as such, in all disputes, they should have an equal vote ; that they
are now collected as individuals making a bargain with each
other, and, of course, had a right to vote as individuals. That
in the East India Company they voted by persons, and not by
their proportion of stock. That the Belgic confederacy voted by
provinces. That in questions of war the smaller States were as
much interested as the larger, and therefore, should vote equally ;
and indeed, that the larger States were more likely to bring war
on the confederacy, in proportion as their frontier was more ex-
tensive. He admitted that equality of representation was an ex-
cellent principle, but then it must be of things which are co-or-
dinate ; that is, of things similar, and of the same nature : that
nothing relating to individuals could ever come before Congress ;
nothing but what would respect colonies. He distinguished be-
tween an incorporating and a federal union. The union of Eng-
land was an incorporating one ; yet Scotland had suffered by that
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 33
union ; for that its inhabitants were drawn from iv by the hopes
of places and employments : nor was it an instance of equality
of representation ; because, while Scotland was allowed nearly a
thirteenth of representation, they were to pay only one fortieth of
the land tax. He expressed his hopes, that in the present en-
lightened state of men's minds, we might expect a lasting con-
federacy, if it was founded or>. fair principles.
John Adams advocated the voting in proportion to numbers.
He said that we stand here as the representatives of the people :
that in some States the people are many, in others they are few ;
that therefore, their vote here should be proportioned to the num-
bers from whom it comes. JRcns^n, j'^ti^p and.^uitjt never had
weight enough on the face of the earth, to govern the councils of
men. It isjntcrest alone which does it, and it is interest alone
which can be trusted : that therefore the interests within doors,
should be the mathematical representatives of the interests without
doors : that the individuality of the colonies is a mere sound.
Does the individuality of a colony increase its wealth or num-
bers ? If it docs, pay equally. If it does not add weight in the
scale of the confederacy, it cannot add to their rights, nor weigh
in argument. A. has 50, B. 500, C. 1000 in partnership. Is
it just they should equally dispose of the moneys of the partner-
ship ? It has been said, we are independent individuals making
a bargain together. The question is not what we are now, bul
what we ought to be when our bargain shall be made. The con-
federacy is to make us one individual only ; it is to form us like
separate parcels of metal, into one common mass. We shall no
longer retain our separate individuality, but become a single in-
dividual as to all questions submitted to the confederacy. There-
fore, all those reasons, which prove the justice and expediency of
equal representation in other assemblies, hold good here. It has
been objected that a proportional vote will endanger the smallei
States. We answer that an equal vote will endanger the larger.
Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, are the three greatei
colonies. Consider their distance, their difference of produce, of
interests, and of manners, and it is apparent they can never have
VOL. i. 3
34 JEfFEKSON'S WORKS.
an interest or inclination to combine for the oppression of the
smaller : that the smaller will naturally divide on all questions
with the larger. Rhode Island, from its relation, similarity and
intercourse, will generally pursue the same objects with Massav
chusetts ; Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, with Pennsylvania.
Dr. Rush took notice, that the decay of the liberties of the
Dutch republic proceeded from three causes. 1. The perfect
unanimity requisite on all occasions. 2. Their obligation to
consult their constituents. 3. Their voting by provinces. This
last destroyed the equality of representation, and the liberties of
Great Britain also are sinking from the same defect. That a
part of our rights is deposited in the hands of our legislatures.
There, it was admitted, there should be an equality of representa-
tion. Another part of our rights is deposited in the hands of
Congress : why is it not equally necessary there should be an
equal representation there ? Were it possible to collect the whole
body of the people together, they would determine the questions
submitted to them by their majority. Why should not the same
majority decide when voting here, by their representatives ? The
larger colonies are so providentially divided in situation, as to
render every fear of their combining visionary. Their interests
are different, and their circumstances dissimilar. It is more prob-
able they will become rivals, and leave it in the power of the
smaller States to give preponderance to any scale they please. The
voting by the number of free inhabitants, will have one excellent
effect, that of inducing the colonies to discourage slavery, and to
encourage the increase of their free inhabitants.
Mr. Hopkins observed, there were* four larger, four smaller, and
four middle-sized colonies. That the four largest would contain
more than half the inhabitants of the confederated States, and
therefore, would govern the others as they should please. That
history affords no instance of such a thing as equal representation.
The Germanic body votes by States. The Helvetic body does
the same ; and so does the Belgic confederacy. That too little
is known of the ancient confederations, to say what was their
practice.
AUTOBIOGEAPHY. 35
Mr. Wilson thought, that taxation should he in proportion to
wealth, hut that representation should accord with the number
of freemen. That government is a collection or result of the
wills of all : that if any government could speak the will of all,
it would he perfect ; and that, so far as it departs from this, it he-
comes imperfect. It has been said that Congress is a representa-
tion of States, not of individuals. I say, that the objects of its
care are all the individuals of the States. It is strange that an-
nexing the name of " State" to ten thousand men, should give
them an equal right with forty thousand. This must he the ef-
fect of magic, not of reason. As to those matters which are re-
ferred to Congress, we are not so many States ; we are one large
State. We lay aside our individuality, whenever we come here.
The Germanic body is a burlesque on government ; and their
practice, on any point, is a sufficient authority and proof that it
is wrong. The greatest imperfection in the constitution of the
Belgic confederacy is their voting by provinces. The interest
of the whole is constantly sacrificed to that of the small States.
The history of the war in the reign of Queen Anne sufficiently
proves this. It is asked, shall nine colonies put it into the power
of four to govern them as they please ? I invert the question,
and ask, shall two millions of people put it in the power of one
million to govern them as they please ? It is pretended, too, that
the smaller colonies will be in danger from the greater. Speak
in honest language and say, the minority will be in danger from
' the majority. And is there an assembly on earth, where this
danger may not be equally pretended ? The truth is, that our
proceedings will then be consentaneous with the interests of the
majority, and so they ought to be. The probability is much
greater, that the larger States will disagree, than that they will
combine. I defy the wit of man to invent a possible case, or to
suggest any one thing on earth, which shall be for the interests
of Virginia, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, and which will not
also be for the interest of the other States.*
[* Here terminate the author's notes of the " earlier debates on the confederation,"
and recommences the MS. begun by him in 1821.]
36 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
These articles, reported July 12, '76, were debated froih day
to day, and time to time, for two years, were ratified July 9, '78,
by ten States, by New Jersey on the 26th of November of the
same year, and by Delaware on the 23d of February following.
Maryland alone held off two years more, acceding to them
March 1, '81, and thus closing the obligation.
Our delegation had been renewed for the ensuing year, com-
mencing August 11 ; but the new goverjjment was now organized,
a meeting of the legislature was to be held in October, and I had
been elected a member by my county. I knew that our legisla-
tion, under the regal government, had many very vicious points
which urgently required reformation, and I thought I could be of
more use in forwarding that work. I therefore retired from my
seat in Congress on the 2d of September, resigned it, and took
my place in the legislature of my State, on the 7th of October.
On the llth, I moved for leave to bring in a bill for the estab-
lishment of courts of justice, the organization of which was of
importance. I drew the bill ; it was approved by the committee,
reported and passed, after going through its due course.
On the 12th, I obtained leave to bring in a bill declaring
tenants in tail to hold their lands in fee simple. In the earlier
times of the colony, when lands were to be obtained for little or
nothing, some provident individuals procured large grants ; and,
desirous of founding great families for themselves, settled them
on their descendants in fee tail. The transmission of this property
from generation to generation, in the same name, raised up a dis- -
tinct set of families, who, being privileged by law in the perpetua-
tion of their wealth, were thus formed into a Patrician order, dis-
tinguished by the splendor and luxury of their establishments.
From this order, too, the king habitually selected his counsellors
of State ; the hope of which distinction devoted the whole corps to
the interests and will of the crown. To annul this privilege, and
instead of an aristocracy of wealth, of more harm and danger, than
benefit, to society, to make an opening for the aristocracy of virtue
and talent, which nature has wisely provided for the direction of
the interests of society, and scattered with equal hand through all
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 37
its conditions, was deemed essential to a well-ordered republic.
To effect it, no violence was necessary, no deprivation of natural
right, but rather an enlargement of it by a repeal of the law. For
this would authorize the present holder to divide the property
among his children equally, as his affections were divided ; and
would place them, by natural generation, on the level of their
fellow citizens. But this repeal was strongly opposed by Mr.
Pendleton, who was zealously attached to ancient establishments ;
and who, taken all in all, was the ablest man in debate I have
ever met with. He had not indeed the poetical fancy of Mr.
Henry, his sublime imagination, his lofty and overwhelming
diction ; but he was cool, smooth and persuasive ; his language
flowing, chaste and embellished ; his conceptions quick, acute and
full of resource ; never vanquished : for if he lost the main battle,
he returned upon you, and regained so much of it as to make it a
drawn one, by dexterous manoEuvres, skirmishes in detail, and the
recovery of small advantages which, little singly, were important
all together. You never knew when you were clear of him, but
were harassed by his perseverance, until the patience was worn
down of all who had less of it than himself. Add to this, that he
was one of the most virtuous and benevolent of men, the kindest
friend, the most amiable and pleasant of companions, which en-
sured a favorable reception to whatever came from him. Finding
that the general principle of entails could not be maintained, he
took his stand on an amendment which he proposed, instead of
an absolute abolition, to permit the tenant in tail to convey in fee
simple, if 'he choss it ; and he was within a few votes of saving
so much of the old law. But the bill passed finally for entire
abolition.
In that one of the bills for organizing our judiciary system,
which proposed a court of Chancery, I had provided for a trial
by jury of all matters of fact, in that as well as in the courts
of law. He defeated it by the introduction of four words only,
" if 'either party choose." The consequence has been, that as no
suitor will say to his judge, " Sir, I distrust you, give me a jury,"
192486
38 JEFFEKSON'S WORKS.
juries are. rarely, I might say, perhaps, never, seen in that court,
but when called for by the Chancellor of his own accord.
The first establishment in Virginia which became permanent,
was made in 1607. I have found no mention of negroes in the
colony until about 1650. The first brought here as slaves were
by a Dutch ship ; after which the English commenced the trade,
and continued it until the revolutionary war. That suspended,
ip so facto, their further importation for the present, and the busi-
ness of the war pressing constantly on the legislature, this subject
was not acted on finally until the year '78, when I brought in a
bill to prevent their further importation. This passed without
opposition, and stopped the increase of the evil by importation,
leaving to future efforts its final eradication.
The first settlers of this colony were Englishmen, loyal sub-
jects to their king and church, and the grant to Sir Walter
Raleigh contained an express proviso that their laws " should not
be against the true Christian faith, now professed in the church
of England." As soon as the state of the colony admitted, it
was divided into parishes, in each of which was established a min-
ister of the Anglican church, endowed with a fixed salary, in to-
bacco, a glebe house and land with the other necessary appendages.
To meet these expenses, all the inhabitants of the parishes were
assessed, whether they were or not, members of the established
church. Towards Quakers who came here, they were most
cruelly intolerant, driving them from the colony by the severest
penalties. In process of time, however, other sectarisms were in-
troduced, chiefly of the Presbyterian family ; and the established
clergy, secure for life in their glebes and salaries, adding to these,
generally, the emoluments of a classical school, found employ-
ment enough, in their farms and school-rooms, for the rest of the
week, and devoted Sunday only to the edification of their flock,
by service, and a sermon at their parish church. Their other
pastoral functions were little attended to. Against this inactivity,
the zeal and industry of sectarian preachers had an open and un-
disputed field ; and by the time of the revolution, a majority of
the inhabitants had become dissenters from the established church,
AUTOBIOGKAPHY. 39
but were still obliged to pay contributions to support the pastors
of the minority. This unrighteous compulsion, to maintain
teachers of what they deemed religious errors, was grievously felt
during the regal government, and without a hope of relief. But
the first republican legislature, which met in '76, was crowded
with petitions to abolish this spiritual tyranny. These brought
on the severest contests in which I have ever been engaged. Our
great opponents were Mr. Pendleton and Robert Carter Nicholas ;
honest men, but zealous churchmen. The petitions were referred
to the committee of the whole house on the state of the country
and, after desperate contests in that committee, almost daily frorr
the llth of October to the 5th of December, we prevailed so fai
only, as to repeal the laws which rendered criminal the mainten-
ance of any religious opinions, the forbearance of repairing tc
church, or the exercise of any mode of worship ; and further, tc
exempt dissenters from contributions to the support of the estab-
lished church ; and to suspend, only until the next session, levies
on the members of that church for the salaries of their own in-
cumbents. For although the majority of our citizens were dis-
senters, ars has been observed, a majority of the legislature were
churchmen. Among these, however, were some reasonable and
liberal men, who enabled us, on some points, to obtain feeble ma-
jorities. But our opponents carried, in the general resolutions of
the committee of November 19, a declaration that religious assem-
blies ought to be regulated, and that provision ought to be made
for continuing the succession of the clergy, and superintending
their conduct. And, in the bill now passed, was inserted an ex-
press reservation of the question, Whether a general assessment
should not be established by law, on every one, to the support of
the pastor of his choice ; or whether all should be left to volun-
tary contributions ; and on this question,, debated at every session,
from '76 to '79, (some of our dissenting allies, having now se-
cured their particular object, going over to the advocates of a gen-
eral assessment,) we could only obtain a suspension from session
to session until '79, when the question against a general assess-
nent was finally carried, and the establishment of the Anglican
40 JEFFERSON'S WOEKS.
church entirely put down. In justice to the two honest but
zealous opponents who have been named, I must add, that al-
though, from their natural temperaments, they were more dis-
posed generally to acquiesce in things as they are, than to risk in-
novations, yet whenever the public will had once decided, none
were more faithful or exact in their obedience to it.
The seat of our government had originally been fixed in the
peninsula of Jamestown, the first settlement of the colonists ; and
had been afterwards removed a few miles inland to Williams-
burg. But this was at a time when our settlements had not ex-
tended beyond the tide waters. Now they had crossed the Al-
leghany ; and the centre of population was very far removed from
what it had been. Yet Williamsburg was still the depository of
our archives, the habitual residence of the Governor and many
other of the public functionaries, the established place for the
sessions of the legislature, and the magazine of our military
stores ; and its situation was so exposed that it might be taken at
any time in war, and, at this time particularly, an enemy might
in the night run up either of the rivers, between which it lies,
land a force above, and take possession of the place, without the
possibility of saving either persons or things. I had proposed its
removal so early as October, '76 ; but it did not prevail until the
session of May, '79.
Early in the session of May, '79, 1 prepared, and obtained leave
to bring in a bill, declaring who should be deemed citizens, as-
serting the natural right of expatriation, and prescribing the mode
of exercising it. This, when I withdrew from the house, on the
1st of June following, I left in the hands of George Mason, and
it was passed on the 26th of that month.
In giving this account of the laws of which I was myself the
mover and draughtsman, I, by no means, mean to claim to my-
self the merit of obtaining their passage. I had many occasional
and strenuous coadjutors in debate, and one, most steadfast, able
and zealous ; who was himself a host. This was George Mason,
a man of the first order of wisdom among those who acted on
the theatre of the revolution, of expansive mind, profound judg-
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 41
meat, cogent in argument, learned in the lore of our former con-
stitution, and earnest for the republican change on democratic
principles. His elocution was neither flowing nor smooth ; but
his language was strong, his manner most impressive, and
strengthened by a dash of biting cynicism, when provocation
made it seasonable.
Mr. Wy the, while speaker in the two sessions of 1777, between
his return from Congress and his appointment to the Chancery,
was an able and constant associate in whatever was before a com-
mittee of the whole. His pure integrity, judgment and reason-
ing powers, gave him great weight. Of him, see more in some
notes inclosed in my letter of August 31, 1821, to Mr. John
Saimderson.*
Mr. Madison came into the House in 1776, a new member and
young ; which circumstances, concurring with his extreme
modesty, prevented his venturing himself in debate before his
removal to the Council of State, in November, '77. From thence
he went to Congress, then consisting of few members. Trained
in these successive schools, he acquired a habit of self-possession,
which placed at ready command the rich resources of his lumi-
nous and discriminating mind, and of his extensive information,
and rendered him the first of every assembly afterwards, of which
he became a member. Never wandering from his subject into
vain declamation, but pursuing it closely, in language pure, class-
ical and copious, soothing always the feelings of his adversaries
by civilities and softness of expression, he rose to the eminent
station which he held in the great National Convention of 1787 ;
and in that of Virginia which followed, he sustained the new
constitution in all its parts, bearing off the palm against the logic
of George Mason, and the fervid declamation of Mr. Henry.
With these consummate powers, were united a pure and spotless
virtue which no calumny has ever attempted to sully. Of the
powers and polish of his pen, and of the wisdom of his adminis-
tration in the highest office of the nation, I need say nothing.
They have spoken, and will forever speak for themselves.
[* See Appendix, note A.]
42 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
So far we were proceeding in the details of reformation only ;
selecting points of legislation, prominent in character and princi-
ple, urgent, and indicative of the strength of the general pulse of
reformation. When I left Congress, in '76, it was in the per-
suasion that our whole code must be reviewed, adapted to our re-
publican form of government ; and, now that we had no negatives
of Councils, Governors, and Kings to restrain us from doing right,
that it should be corrected, in all its parts, with a single eye to
reason, and the good of those for whose government it was
framed. Early, therefore, in the session of '76, to which I re-
turned, I moved and presented a bill for the revision of the laws,
which was passed on the 24th of October ; and on the 5th of No-
vember, Mr. Pendleton, Mr. Wythe, George Mason, Thomas L.
Lee, and myself, were appointed a committee to execute the work.
We agreed to meet at Fredericksburg to settle the plan of opera-
tion, and to distribute the work. We met there accordingly, on
the 13th of January, 1777. The first question was, whether we
should propose to abolish the whole existing system of laws, and
prepare a new and complete Institute, or preserve the general sys-
tem, and only modify it to the present state of things. Mr. Pen-
dleton, contrary to his usual disposition in favor of ancient things,
was for the former proposition, in which he was joined by Mr.
Lee. To this it was objected, that to abrogate our whole system
would be a bold measure, and probably far beyond the views of
the legislature ; that they had been in the practice of revising,
from time to time, the laws of the colony, omitting the expired,
the repealed, and the obsolete, amending only those retained, and
probably meant we should now do the same, only including the
British statutes as well as our own : that to compose a new In-
stitute, like those of Justinian and Bracton, or that of Blackstone,
which was the model proposed by Mr. Pendleton, would be an
arduous undertaking, of vast research, of great consideration and
judgment ; and when reduced to a text, every word of that text,
from the imperfection of human language, and its incompetence
to express distinctly every shade of idea, would become a subject
of question and chicanery, until settled by repeated adjudications j
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 43
<uid this would involve us for ages in litigation and render prop-
erty uncertain, until, like the statutes of old, eve ry word had been
tried and settled by numerous decisions, and by new volumes of
reports and commentaries ; and that no one of us, probably, would
undertake such a work, wlrch to be systematical, must be the
work of one hand. This last was the opinion of Mr. Wythe,
Mr. Mason, and myself. When we proceeded to the distribution
of the work, Mr. Mason excused himself, as, being no lawyer, he
felt himself unqualified for the work, and he resigned soon after.
Mr. Lee excused himself on the same ground, and died, indeed, in
a short time. The other two gentlemen, therefore, and myself
divided the work among us. The common law and statutes to
the 4 James I. (when our separate legislature was established)
were assigned to me ; the British statutes, from that period to the
present day, to Mr. Wythe ; and the Virginia laws to Mr. Pen-
dleton. As the law of Descents, and the criminal law fell of
course within my portion, I wished the committee to settle the
leading principles of these, as a guide for me in framing them ;
and, with respect to the first, I proposed to abolish the law of pri-
mogeniture, and to make real estate descendible in parcenary to
the next of kin, as personal property is, by the statute of distribu-
tion. Mr. Pendleton wished to preserve the right of primogeni-
ture, but seeing at once that that could not prevail, he proposed
we should adopt the Hebrew principle, and give a double portion
to the elder son. I observed, that if the eldest son could eat twice
as much, or do double work, it might be a natural evidence of his
right to a double portion ; but being on a par in his powers and
wants, with his brothers and sisters, he should be on a par also in
the partition of the patrimony ; and such was the decision of the
other members.
On the subject of the Criminal law, all were agreed, that the
punishment of death should be abolished, except for treason and
murder ; and that, for other felonies, should be substituted hard
labor in the public works, and in some cases, the Lex talionis.
How this last revolting principle came to obtain our approbation
I do not remember. There remained, indeed, in our laws, a ves-
44 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
tige of it in a single case of a slave ; it was the English law, in
the time of the Anglo-Saxons, copied probably from the Hebrew
law of " an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," and it was the
law of several ancient people ; but the modern mind had left it
far in the rear of its advances. These points, however, being
settled, we repaired to our respective homes for the preparation of
the work.
In the execution of my part, I thought it material not to vary
the diction of the ancient statutes by modernizing it, nor to give
rise to new questions by new expressions. The text of these
statutes had been so fully explained and denned, by numerous
adjudications, as scarcely ever now to produce a question in our
courts. I thought it would be useful, also, in all new draughts,
to reform the style of the later British statutes, and of our own
acts of Assembly ; which, from their verbosity, their endless tau-
tologies, their involutions of case within case, and parenthesis
within parenthesis, and their multiplied efforts at certainty, by
saids and aforesaids, by ors and by ands, to make them more
plain, are really rendered more perplexed and incomprehensible,
not only to common readers, but to the lawyers themselves. We
were employed in this work from that time to February, 1779,
when we met at Williamsburg, that is to say, Mr. Pendleton, Mr.
Wythe and myself ; and meeting day by day, we examined critic-
ally our several parts, sentence by sentence, scrutinizing and
amending, until we had agreed on the whole. We then returned
home, had fair copies made of our several parts, which were re-
ported to the General Assembly, June 18, 1779, by Mr. Wythe
and myself, Mr. Pendleton's residence being distant, and he hav-
ing authorized us by letter to declare his approbation. We had,
in this work, brought so much of the Common law as it was
thought necessary to alter, all the British statutes from Magna
Charta to the present day, and all the laws of Virginia, from the
establishment of our legislature, in the 4th Jac. 1. to the present
time, which we thought should be retained, within the compass
of one hundred and twenty-six bills, making a printed folio of
ninety pages only. Some bills were taken out, occasionally, from
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 45
time to time, and passed ; but the main body of the work was
not entered on by the legislature until after the general peace, in
1785, when, by the unwearied exertions of Mr. Madison, in op-
position to the endless quibbles, chicaneries, perversions, vexa-
tions and delays of lawyers and demi-lawyers, most of the bills
were passed by the legislature, with little alteration.
The bill for establishing religious freedom, the principles of
which had, to a certain degree, been enacted before, I had drawn
in all the latitude of reason and right. It still met with opposi-
tion ; but, with some mutilations in the preamble, it was finally
passed ; and a singular proposition proved that its protection of
opinion was meant to be universal. Where the preamble declares,
that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of
our religion, an amendment was proposed, by inserting the word
" Jesus Christ," so that it should read, " a departure from the plan
of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion ;" the insertion
was rejected by a great majority, in proof that they meant to
comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the
Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo, and Infidel
of every denomination.
Beccaria, and other writers on crimes and punishments, had
satisfied the reasonable world of the unrightfulness and ineffi-
cacy of the punishment of crimes by death ; and hard labor on
roads, canals and other public works, had been suggested as a
proper substitute. The Revisers had adopted these opinions ; but
the general idea of our country had not yet advanced to that
point. The bill, therefore, for proportioning crimes and punish-
ments, was lost in the House of Delegates by a majority of a sin-
gle vote. I learned afterwards, that the substitute of hard labor
in public, was tried (I believe it was in Pennsylvania) without
success. Exhibited as a public spectacle, with shaved heads and
mean clothing, working on the high roads, produced in the crimi-
nals such a prostration of character, such an abandonment of self-
respect, as, instead of reforming, plunged them into the most des-
perate and hardened depravity of morals and character. To
pursue the subject of this law. I was written to in 1785 (being
46 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
then in Paris) by directors appointed to superintend the building
of a Capitol in Richmond, to advise them as to a plan, and to add
to it one of a Prison. Thinking it a favorable opportunity of in-
troducing into the State an example of architecture, in the classic
style of antiquity, and the Maison quarree of Nismes, an ancient
Roman temple, being considered as the most perfect model exist-
ing of what may be called Cubic architecture, I applied to M.
Clerissault, who had published drawings of the Antiquities of
Nismes, to have me a model of the building made in stucco, only
changing the order from Corinthian to Ionic, on account of the
difficulty of the Corinthian capitals. I yielded, with reluctance,
to the taste of Clerissault, in his preference of the modern capital
of Scamozzi to the more noble capital of antiquity. This was
executed by the artist whom Choiseul Gouffier had carried with
him to Constantinople, and employed, while Ambassador there,
in making those beautiful models of the remains of Grecian archi-
tecture which are to be seen at Paris. To adapt the exterior to
our use, I drew a plan for the interior, with the apartments neces-
sary for legislative, executive, and judiciary purposes ; and accom-
modated in their size and distribution to the form and dimensions
of the building. These were forwarded to the Directors, in 1786,
and were carried into execution, with some variations, not for the
better, the most important of which, however, admit of future
correction. With respect to the plan of a Prison, requested at the
same time, I had heard of a benevolent society, in England,
which had been indulged by the government, in an experiment
of the effect of labor, in solitary confinement, on some of their
criminals ; which experiment had succeeded beyond expectation.
The same idea had been suggested in France, and an Architect
of Lyons had proposed a plan of a well-contrived edifice, on the
principle of solitary confinement. I procured a copy, and as it
was too large for our purposes, I drew one on a scale less exten-
sive, but susceptible of additions as they should be wanting.
This I sent to the Directors, instead of a plan of a common
prison, in the hope that it would suggest the idea of labor in soli-
tary confinement, instead of that on the public works, which we
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 47
had adopted in our Revised Code. Its principle, accordingly, but
not its exact form, was adopted by Latrobe in carrying the plan
into execution, by the erection of what is now called the Peniten-
tiary, built under his direction. In the meanwhile, the public
opinion was ripening, by time, by reflection, and by the example
of Pennsylvania, where labor on the highways had been tried,
without approbation, from 1786 to '89, and had been followed by
their Penitentiary system on the principle of confinement and
labor, which was proceeding auspiciously. In 1796, our legisla-
ture resumed the subject, and passed the law for amending the
Penal laws of the commonwealth. They adopted solitary, in-
stead of public, labor, established a gradation in the duration of
the confinement, approximated the style of the law more to the
modern usage, and, instead of the settled distinctions of murder
and manslaughter, preserved in my bill, they introduced the new
terms of murder in the first and second degree. Whether these
have produced more or fewer questions of definition, I am not
sufficiently informed of our judiciary transactions to say. I will
here, however, insert the text of my bill, with the notes I made
in the course of my researches into the subject.*
The acts of Assembly concerning the College of William and
Mary, were properly within Mr. Pendleton's portion of our work ;
but these related chiefly to its revenue, while its constitution, or-
ganization and scope of science, were derived from its charter.
We thought that on this subject, a systematical plan of general
education should be proposed, and I was requested to undertake
it. I accordingly prepared three bills for the Revisal, proposing
three distinct grades of education, reaching all classes. 1st. Ele-
mentary schools, for all children generally, rich and poor.
2d. Colleges, for a middle degree of instruction, calculated for
the common purposes of life, and such as would be desirable for
all who were in easy circumstances. And, 3d, an ultimate grade
for teaching the sciences generally, and in their highest degre*.
The first bill proposed to lay off every county into Hundreds, or
Wards, of a proper size and population for a school, in which
[* See Appendix, note E.]
48 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
reading, writing, and common arithmetic should be taught , and
that the whole State should be divided into twenty-four districts,
in each of which should be a school for classical learning, gram-
mar, geography, and the higher branches of numerical arithmetic.
The second bill proposed to amend the constitution of William
and Mary college, to enlarge its sphere of science, and to make it
in fact a University. The third was for the establishment of a
library. These bills were not acted on until the same year, '96,
and then only so much of the first as provided for elementary
schools. The College of William and Mary was an establish-
ment purely of the Church of England ; the Visitors were re-
quired to be all of that Church ; the Professors to subscribe its
thirty-nine Articles ; its Students to learn its Catechism ; and one
of its fundamental objects was declared to be, to raise up Minis-
ters for that church. The religious jealousies, therefore, of all
the dissenters, took alarm lest this might give an ascendancy to
the Anglican sect, and refused acting on that bill. Its local ec-
centricity, too, and unhealthy autumnal climate, lessened the gen-
eral inclination towards it. And in the Elementary bill, they in-
serted a provision which completely defeated it ; for they left it
to the court of each county to determine for itself, when this act
should be carried into execution, within their county. One pro-
vision of the bill was, that the expenses of these schools should
be borne by the inhabitants of the county, every one in propor-
tion to his general tax rate. This would throw on wealth the
education of the poor ; and the justices, being generally of the
more wealthy class, were unwilling to incur that burden, and I
believe it was not suffered to commence in a single county. I
shall recur again to this subject, towards the close of my story, if
I should have life and resolution enough to reach that term ; for
I am already tired of talking about myself.
The bill on the subject of slaves, was a mere digest of the ex-
isting laws respecting them, without any intimation of a plan for
a future and general emancipation. It was thought better that
this should be kept back, and attempted only by way of amend-
ment, whenever the bill should be brought on. The principles
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 49
of the amendment, however, were agreed on, that is to say, the
freedom of all born after a certain day, and deportation at a proper
age. But it was found that the public mind would not yet bear
the proposition, nor will it bear it even at this day. Yet the
day is not distant when it must bear and adopt it, or worse will
follow. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate,
than that these people are to be free ; nor is it less certain that
the two races, equally free, cannot live in the same government.
Nature, habit, opinion have drawn indelible lines of distinction
between them. It is still in our power to direct the process of
emancipation and deportation, peaceably, and in such slow degree,
as that the evil will wear off insensibly, and their place be, pari
passu, filled up by free white laborers. If, on the contrary, it is left
to force itself on, human nature must shudder at the prospect held
up. We should in vain look for an example in the Spanish de-
portation or deletion of the Moors. This precedent would fall
far short of our case.
I considered four of these bills, passed or reported, as forming
a system by which every fibre would be eradicated of ancient or
future aristocracy ; and a foundation laid for a government truly
republican. The repeal of the laws of entail would prevent the
accumulation and perpetuation of wealth, in select families, and
preserve the soil of the country from being daily more and more
absorbed in mortmain. The abolition of primogeniture, and
equal partition of inheritances, removed the feudal and unnatural
distinctions which made one member of every family rich, and
all the rest poor, substituting equal partition, the best of all Agra-
rian laws. The restoration of the rights of conscience relieved
the people from taxation for the support of a religion not theirs j
for the establishment was truly of the religion of the rich, the
dissenting sects being entirely composed of the less wealthy peo-
ple ; and these, by the bill for a general education, would be
qualified to understand their rights, to maintain them, and to ex-
ercise with intelligence their parts in self-government ; and all
this would be effected, without the violation of a single natural
right of any one individual citizen. To these, too, might be add-
VOL. i. 4
50 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
ed, as a further security, the introduction of the trial by jury,
into the Chancery courts, which have already ingulfed, and
continue to ingulf, so great a proportion of the jurisdiction over
our property.
On the 1st of June, 1779, I was appointed Governor of the
Commonwealth, and retired from the legislature. Being elected,
also, one of the Visitors of William and Mary college, a self-
electing body, I effected, during my residence in Williamsburg
that year, a change in the organization of that institution, by
abolishing the Grammar school, and the two professorships of
Divinity and Oriental languages, and substituting a professorship
of Law and Police, one of Anatomy, Medicine and Chemistry,
and one of Modern languages ; and the charter confining us to
six professorships, we added the Law of Nature and Nations, and
the Fine Arts to the duties of the Moral professor, and Natural
History to those of the professor of Mathematics and Natural
Philosophy.
Being now, as it were, identified with the Commonwealth it-
self, to write my own history, during the two years of my ad-
ministration, would be to write the public history of that portion
of the revolution within this State. This has been done by
others, and particularly by Mr. Girardin, who wrote his Continua-
tion of Burke's History of Virginia, while at Milton, in this
neighborhood, had free access to all my papers while composing
it, and has given as faithful an account as I could myself. For
this portion, therefore, of my own life, I refer altogether to his
history. From a belief that, under the pressure of the invasion
under which we were then laboring, the public would have more
confidence in a Military chief, and that the Military commander,
being invested with the Civil power also, both might be wielded
with more energy, promptitude and effect for the defence of the
State, I resigned the administration at the end of my second year,
and General Nelson was appointed to succeed me.
Soon after my leaving Congress, in September, '76, to wit, on
the last day of that month, I had been appointed, with Dr. Frank-
lin, to go to France, as a Commissioner, to negotiate treaties of
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 51
alliance and commerce with that government. Silas Deane, then
in France, acting as* agent for procuring military stores, was
joined with us in commission. But such was the state of my
family that I could not leave it, nor could I expose it to the dan-
gers of the sea, and of capture by the British ships, then cover-
ing the ocean. I saw, too, that the laboring oar was really at
home, where much was to be done, of the most permanent in-
terest, in new modelling our governments, and much to defend
our fanes and fire-sides from the desolations of an invading enemy,
pressing on our country in every point. I declined, therefore,
and Dr. Lee was appointed in my place. On the 15th of June,
1781, I had been appointed, with Mr. Adams, Dr. Franklin, Mr.
Jay, and Mr. Laurens, a Minister Plenipotentiary for negotiating
peace, then expected to be effected through the mediation of the
Empress of Russia. The same reasons obliged me still to de-
cline ; and the negotiation was in fact never entered on. But,
in the autumn of the next year, 1782, Congress receiving assur-
ances that a general peace would be concluded in the winter and
spring, they renewed my appointment on the 13th of November
of that year. I had, two months before that, lost the cherished
companion of my life, in whose affections, unabated on both
sides, I had lived the last ten years in unchequered happiness.
With the public interests, the state of my mind concurred in re-
commending the change of scene proposed ; and I accepted the
appointment, and left Monticello on the 19th of December, 1782,
for Philadelphia, where I arrived on the 27th. The Minister of
France, Luzerne, offered me a passage in the Romulus frigate,
which I accepting ; but she was then lying a few miles below
Baltimore, blocked up in the ice. I remained, therefore, a month
in Philadelphia, looking over the papers in the office of State, in
order to possess myself of the general state of our foreign rela-
tions, and then went to Baltimore, to await the liberation of the
* His ostensible character was to be that of a merchant, his real one that of agent
for military supplies, and also for sounding the dispositions of the government of
France, and seeing how far they would favor us, either secretly or openly. His ap-
pointment had been by the Committee of foreign correspondence, March, 1776.
52 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
frigate from the ice. After waiting there nearly a month, we re-
ceived information that a Provisional treaty ot peace had been
signed by our Commissioners on the 3d of September, 1782, to
become absolute, on the conclusion of peace between France and
Great Britain. Considering my proceeding to Europe as now of
no utility to the public, I returned immediately to Philadelphia, to
take the orders of Congress, and was excused by them from fur-
ther proceeding. I, therefore, returned home, where I arrived on
the 15th of May, 1783.
On the 6th of the following month, I was appointed by the
legislature a delegate to Congress, the appointment to take place
on the 1st of November ensuing, when that of the existing dele-
gation would expire. I, accordingly, left home on the 16th of Oc-
tober, arrived at Trenton, where Congress was sitting, on the 3d
of November, and took my seat on the 4th, on which day Con-
gress adjourned, to meet at Annapolis on the 26th.
Congress had now become a very small body, and the mem-
bers very remiss in their attendance on its duties, insomuch, that
a majority of the States, necessary by the Confederation to con-
stitute a House even for minor business, did not assemble until
the 13th of December.
They, as early as January 7, 1782, had turned their attention to
the moneys current in the several States, and had directed the Fi-
nancier, Robert Morris, to report to them a table of rates, at which
the foreign coins should be received at the treasury. That officer,
or rather his assistant, Gouverneur Morris, answered them on the
15th, in an able and elaborate statement of the denominations of
money current in the several States, and of the comparative value of
the foreign coins chiefly in circulation with us. He went into the
consideration of the necessity of establishing a standard of value
with us, and of the adoption of a money Unit. He proposed for
that Uni';, such a fraction of pure silver as would be a common
measure of the penny of every State, without leaving a fraction.
This common divisor he found to be 1-1440 of a dollar, or
1-1600 of the crown sterling. The value of a dollar was,
therefore, to be expressed by 1,440 units, and of a crown by
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 53
1,600 ; each Unit containing a quarter of a grain of fine silver.
Congress turning again their attention to this subject the follow-
ing year, the Financier, by a letter of April 30, 1783, further ex-
plained and urged the Unit he had proposed ; but nothing more
was done on it until the ensuing year, when it was again taken
up, and referred to a committee, of which I was a member. The
general views of the Financier were sound, and the principle was
ingenious on which he proposed to found his Unit ; but it was
too minute for ordinary use, too laborious for computation, either
by the head or in figures. The price of a loaf of bread, 1-20 of
a dollar, would be 72 units.
A pound of butter, 1-5 of a dollar, 288 units.
A horse or bullock, of eighty dollars value, would require a no-
tation of six figures, to wit, 115,200, and the public debt, suppose
of eighty millions, would require twelve figures, to wit, 115,200,-
000,000 units. Such a system of money-arithmetic would be
entirely unmanageable for the common purposes of society. I
proposed, therefore, instead of this, to adopt the Dollar as our Unit
of account and payment, and that its divisions and sub-divisions
should be in the decimal ratio. I wrote some Notes on the sub
ject, which I submitted to the consideration of the Financier. I
received his answer and adherence to his general system, only
agreeing to take for his Unit one hundred of those he first pro-
posed, so that a Dollar should be 14 40-100, and a crown 16
units. I replied to this, and printed my notes and reply on a
flying sheet, which I put into the hands of the members of Con-
gress for consideration, and the Committee agreed to report on my
principle. This was adopted the ensuing year, and is the system
which now prevails. I insert, here, the Notes and Reply, as
showing the different views on which the adoption of our money
system hung.* The divisions into dimes, cents, and mills is
now so well understood, that it would be easy of introduction
into the kindred branches of weights and measures. I use, when
I travel, an Odometer of Clarke's invention, which divides the
mile into cents, and I find every one comprehends a distance
[* See Appendix, note F.]
54 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
readily, when stated to him in miles and cents ; so he would in
feet and cents, pounds and cents, &c.
The remissness of Congress, and their permanent session, be-
gan to be a subject of uneasiness ; and even some of the legisla-
tures had recommended to them intermissions, and periodical
sessions. As the Confederation had made no provision for a visi-
ble head of the government, during vacations of Congress, and
such a one was necessary to superintend the executive business,
to receive and communicate with foreign ministers and nations,
and to assemble Congress on sudden and extraordinary emergen-
cies, I proposed, early in April, the appointment of a committee,
to be called the " Committee of the States," to consist of a mem-
ber from each State, who should remain in session during the
recess of Congress : that the functions of Congress should be di-
vided into executive and legislative, the latter to be reserved, and
the former, by a general resolution, to be delegated to that Com-
mittee. This proposition was afterwards agreed to ; a Committee
appointed, who entered on duty on the subsequent adjournment
of Congress, quarrelled very soon, split into two parties, aban-
doned their post, and left the government without any visible
head, until the next meeting in Congress. We have since seen
the same thing take place in the Directory of France ; and I
believe it will forever take place in any Executive consisting of
a plurality. Our plan, best, I believe, combines wisdom and
practicability, by providing a plurality of Counsellors, but a sin-
gle Arbiter for ultimate decision. I was in France when we
heard of this schism, and separation of our Committee, and,
speaking with Dr. Franklin of this singular disposition of men to
quarrel, and divide into parties, he gave his sentiments, as usual,
by way of Apologue. He mentioned the Eddystone light-
house, in the British channel, as being built on a rock, in the
mid-channel, totally inaccessible in winter, from the boisterous
character of that sea, in that season ; that, therefore, for the two
keepers employed to keep up the lights, all provisions for the
winter were necessarily carried to them in autumn, as they could
never be visited again till the return of the milder season ; that,
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 55
on the first practicable day in the spring, a boat put off to them
with fresh supplies. The boatmen met at the door one of the
keepers, and accosted him with a " How goes it, friend ? Very
well. How is your companion ? I do not know. Don't know ?
Is not he here ? I can't tell. Have not you seen him to-day ?
No. When did you see him ? Not since last fall. You have
killed him ? Not I, indeed." They were about to lay hold of
him, as having certainly murdered his companion ; but he de-
sired them to go up stairs and examine for themselves. They
went up, and there found the other keeper. They had quarrel-
led, it seems, soon after being left there, had divided into two
parties, assigned the cares below to one, and those above to the
other, and had never spoken to, or seen, one another since.
But to return to our Congress at Annapolis. The definitive
treaty of peace which had been signed at Paris on the 3d of
September, 1783, and received here, could not be ratified without
a House of nine States. On the 23d of December, therefore, we
addressed letters to the several Governors, stating the receipt of
the definitive treaty ; that seven States only were in attendance,
while nine were necessary to its ratification ; and urging them to
press on their delegates the necessity of their immediate attend-
ance. And on the 26th, to save time, I moved that the Agent
of Marine (Robert Morris) should be instructed to have ready a
vessel at this place, at New York, and at some Eastern port, to
carry over the ratification of the treaty when agreed to. It met
the general sense of the House, but was opposed by Dr. Lee, on
the ground of expense, which it would authorize the Agent to
incur for us ; and, he said, it would be better to ratify at once,
and send on the ratification. Some members had before sug-
gested, that seven States were competent to the ratification. My
motion was therefore postponed, and another brought forward by
Mr. Read, of South Carolina, for an immediate ratification. This
was debated the 26th and 27th. Reed, Lee, Williamson and
Jeremiah Chase, urged that ratification was a mere matter of
form, that the treaty was conclusive from the moment it was
signed by the ministers; that, although the Confederation re-
56 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
quires the assent of nine States to enter into a treaty, yet, that its
conclusion could not be called entrance into it ; that supposing
nine States requisite, it would be in the power of five States to
keep us always at war ; that nine States had virtually authorized
the ratification, having ratified the provisional treaty, and in-
structed their ministers to agree to a definitive one in the same
terms, and the present one was, in fact, substantially, and almost
verbatim, the same ; that there now remain but sixty-seven days
for the ratification, for its passage across the Atlantic, and its ex-
change ; that there was no hope of our soon having nine States
present ; in fact, that this was the ultimate point of time to which
we could venture to wait ; that if the ratification was not in Paris
by the time stipulated, the treaty would become void ; that if
ratified by seven States, it would go under our seal, without its
being known to Great Britain that only seven had concurred ; that
it was a question of which they had no right to take cognizance,
and we were only answerable for it to our constituents ; that it
was like the ratification which Great Britain had received from
the Dutch, by the negotiations of Sir William Temple.
On the contrary, it was argued by Monroe, Gerry, Howel,
Ellery and myself, that by the modern usage of Europe, the rati-
fication was considered as the act which gave validity to a treaty,
until which, it was not obligatory.* That the commission to the
ministers reserved the ratification to Congress ; that the treaty it-
self stipulated that it should be ratified ; that it became a second
question, who were competent to the ratification ? That the Con-
federation expressly required nine States to enter into any treaty ;
that, by this, that instrument must have intended, that the assent
of nine States should be necessary, as well to the completion as
to the commencement of the treaty, its object having been to
guard the rights of the Union in all those important cases where
nine States are called for ; that by the contrary construction,
seven States, containing less than one-third of our whole citizens,
might rivet on us a treaty, commenced indeed under commission
and instructions from nine States, but formed by the minister in
* Vattel L. 2, 156. L. 4, 77. 1. Mably Droit D'Europe, 86.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 57
express contradiction to such instructions, and in direct sacrifice
of the interests of so great a majority ; that the definitive treaty
was admitted not to be a verbal copy of the provisional one, and
whether the departures from it were of substance, or not, was a
question on which nine States alone were competent to decide ;
that the circumstances of the ratification of the provisional arti-
cles by nine States, the instructions to our ministers to form a
definitive one by them, and their actual agreement in substance,
do not render us competent to ratify in the present instance ; if
these circumstances are in themselves a ratification, nothing
further is requisite than to give attested copies of them, in ex-
change for the British ratification ; if they are not, we remain
where we were, without a ratification by nine States, and incom-
petent ourselves to ratify ; that it was but four days since the
seven States, now present, unanimously concurred in a resolution,
to be forwarded to the Governors of the absent States, in which
they stated, as a cause for urging on their delegates, that nine
States were necessary to ratify the treaty ; that in the case of the
Dutch ratification, Great Britain had courted it, and therefore was
glad to accept it as it was ; that they knew our Constitution, and
would object to a ratification by seven ; that, if that circumstance
was kept back, it would be known hereafter, and would give
them ground to deny the validity of a ratification, into which
they should have been surprised and cheated, and it would be a
dishonorable prostitution of our seal ; that there is a hope of nine
States ; that if the treaty would become null, if not ratified in
time, it would not be saved by an imperfect ratification ; but that,
in fact, it would not be null, and would be placed on better
ground, going in unexceptionable form, though a few days too
late, and rested on the small importance of this circumstance, and
the physical impossibilities which had prevented a punctual com-
pliance in point of time ; that this would be approved by all na-
tions, and by Great Britain herself, if not determined to renew
tne war, and if so determined, she would never want excuses^
were this out of the way. Mr. Read gave notice, he should call
for the yeas and nays ; whereon those in opposition, prepared a
58 JEFFERSON'S WOEKS.
resolution, expressing pointedly the reasons of their dissent from
his motion. It appearing, however, that his proposition could
not he carried, it was thought hetter to make no entry at all.
Massachusetts alone would have heen for it ; Rhode Island,
Pennsylvania and Virginia against it, Delaware, Maryland and
North Carolina, would have heen divided.
Our body was little numerous, but very contentious. Day
after day was wasted on the most unimportant questions. A mem-
ber, one of those afflicted with the morbid rage of debate, of an
ardent mind, prompt imagination, and copious flow of words, who
heard with impatience any logic which was not his own, sitting
near me on some occasion of a trifling but wordy debate, asked
me how I could sit in silence, hearing so much false reasoning,
which a word should refute ? I observed to him, that to refute
indeed was easy, but to silence was impossible ; that in measures
brought forward by myself, I took the laboring oar, as was in-
cumbent on me ; but that in general, I was willing to listen ; that
if every sound argument or objection was used by some one or
other of the numerous debaters, it was enough ; if not, I thought
it sufficient to suggest the omission, without going into a repeti-
tion of what had been already said by others : that this was a
waste and abuse of the time and patience of the House, which
could not be justified. And I believe, that if the members of de-
liberate bodies were to observe this course generally, they would
do in a day, what takes them a week ; and it is really more ques-
tionable, than may at first be thought, whether Bonaparte's dumb
legislature, which said nothing, and did much, may not be prefer-
able to one which talks much, and does nothing. I served with
General Washington in the legislature of Virginia, before the
revolution, and, during it, with Dr. Franklin in Congress. I never
heard either of them speak ten minutes at a time, nor to any but
the main point, which was to decide the question. They laid
their shoulders to the great points, knowing that the little ones
would follow of themselves. If the present Congress errs in too
much talking, how can it be otherwise, in a body to which the
people send one hundred and fifty lawyers, whose trade it is to
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 59
question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour ? That
one hundred and fifty lawyers should do business together, ought
ncl to be expected. But to return again to our subject.
Those who thought seven States competent to the ratification,
being very restless under the loss of their motion, I proposed, on
the third of January, to meet them on middle ground, and there-
fore moved a resolution, which premised, that there were but
seven States present, who were unanimous for the ratification, but
that they differed in opinion on the question of competency ; that
those however in the negative were unwilling that any powers
which it might be supposed they possessed, should remain unex-
ercised for the restoration of peace, provided it could be done,
saving their good faith, and without importing any opinion of
Congress, that seven States were competent, and resolving that
the treaty be ratified so far as they had power ; that it should be
transmitted to our ministers, with instructions to keep it uncom-
municated ; to endeavor to obtain three months longer for ex-
change of ratifications; that they should be informed, that so
soon as nine States shall be present, a ratification by nine shall
be sent them : if this should get to them before the ultimate point
of time for exchange, they were to use it, and not the other ; if
not, they were to offer the act of the seven States in exchange,
informing them the treaty had come to hand while Congress was
not in session ; that but seven States were as yet assembled, and
these had unanimously concurred in the ratification. This was
debated on the third and fourth ; and on the fifth, a vessel being
to sail for England, from this port (Annapolis), the House di-
rected the President to write to our ministers accordingly.
January 14. Delegates from Connecticut having attended yes-
terday, and another from South Carolina coming in this day, the
treaty was ratified without a dissenting voice ; and three instru-
ments of ratification were ordered to be made out, one of which
was sent by Colonel Harmer, another by Colonel Franks, and the
third transmitted to the Agent of Marine, to be forwarded by any
good opportunity.
Congress soon took up the consideration of their foreign rela
60 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
tions. They deemed it necessary to get their commerce placed
with every nation, on a footing as favorable as that of other na-
tions ; and for this purpose, to propose to each a distinct treaty
of commerce. This act too would amount to an acknowledg-
ment, hy each, of our independence, and of our reception into the
fraternity of nations ; which, although as possessing our station
of ris;ht, and in fact we would not condescend to ask, we were
o / '
not unwilling to furnish opportunities for receiving their friendly
salutations and welcome. With France, the United Netherlands,
and Sweden, we had already treaties of commerce ; but commis-
sions were given for those countries also, should any amendments
be thought necessary. The other States to which treaties were
to be proposed, were England, Hamburg, Saxony, Prussia, Den-
mark, Russia, Austria, Venice, Rome, Naples, Tuscany, Sardinia,
Genoa, Spain, Portugal, the Porte, Algiers, Tripoli, Tunis, and
Morocco.
On the 7th of May Congress resolved that a Minister Plenipo-
tentiary should be appointed, in addition to Mr. Adams and Dr.
Franklin, for negotiating treaties of commerce with foreign na-
tions, and I was elected to that duty. I accordingly left An-
napolis on the llth, took with me my eldest daughter, then at
Philadelphia (the two others being too young for the voyage),
and proceeded to Boston, in quest of a passage. While passing
through the different States, I made a point of informing myself
of the state of the commerce of each ; went on to New Hamp-
shire with the same view, and returned to Boston. Thence I
sailed on the 5th of July, in the Ceres, a merchant ship of Mr.
Nathaniel Tracey, bound to Cowes. He was himself a passen-
ger, and, after a pleasant voyage of nineteen days, from land to
land, we arrived at Cowes on the 26th. I was detained there a
few days by the indisposition of my daughter. On the 30th, we
embarked for Havre, arrived there on the 31st, left it on the 3d
of August, and arrived at Paris on the 6th. I called immediately
on Dr. Franklin, at Passy, communicated to him our charge,
and we wrote to Mr. Adams, then at the Hague, to join us at
Paris.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 61
Before I had left America, that is to say, in the year 1781, 1
had received a letter from M. de Marbois, of the French legation
in Philadelphia, informing me, he had been instructed by his gov-
ernment to obtain such statistical accounts of the different States
of our Union, as might be useful for their information ; and address-
ing to me a number of queries relative to the State of Virginia.
I had always made it a practice, whenever an opportunity occur-
red of obtaining any information of our country, which might be
of use to me in any station, public or private, to commit it to
writing. These memoranda were on loose papers, bundled up
without order, and difficult of recurrence, when I had occasion x~
for a particular one. I thought this a good occasion to embody /
their substance, which I did in the order of Mr. Marbois' queries,
so as to answer his wish, and to arrange them for my own use.
Some friends, to whom they were occasionally communicated,
wished for copies ; but their volume rendering this too laborious
by hand, I proposed to get a few printed, for their gratification.
I was asked such a price, however, as exceeded the importance
of the object. On my arrival at Paris, I found it could be done
for a fourth of what I had been asked here. I therefore cor-
rected and enlarged them, and had two hundred copies printed,
under the title of " Notes on Virginia." I gave a very few copies
to some particular friends in Europe, and sent the rest to my
friends in America. An European copy, by the death of the
owner, got into the hands of a bookseller, who engaged its trans-
lation, and when ready for the press, communicated his intentions
and manuscript to me, suggesting that I should correct it, with-
out asking any other permission for the publication. I never had
seen so wretched an attempt at translation. Interverted, abridged,
mutilated, and often reversing the sense of the original, I found
it a blotch of errors, from beginning to end. I corrected some of
the most material, and, in that form, it was printed in French.
A London bookseller, on seeing the translation, requested me to
permit him to print the English original. I thought it best to do
so, to let the world see that it was not really so bad as the French
62 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
translation had made it appear. And this is the true history of
that publication.
Mr. Adams soon joined us at Paris, and our first employment
was to prepare a general form, to be proposed to such nations as
were disposed to treat with us. During the negotiations for peace
with the British Commissioner, David Hartley, our Commissioners
had proposed, on the suggestion of Dr. Frankin, to insert an arti-
cle, exempting from capture by the public or private armed ships,
of either belligerent, when at war, all merchant vessels and their
cargoes, employed merely in carrying on the commerce between
nations. It was refused by England, and unwisely, in my opinion.
For, in the case of a war with us, their superior commerce places
infinitely more at hazard on the ocean, than ours ; and, as hawks
abound in proportion to game, so our privateers would swarm, in
proportion to the wealth exposed to their prize, while theirs would
be few, for want of subjects of capture. We inserted this article
in our form, with a provision against the molestation of fishermen,
husbandmen, citizens unarmed, and following their occupations in
unfortified places, for the humane treatment of prisoners of war,
the abolition of contraband of war, which exposes merchant ves-
sels to such vexatious and ruinous detentions and abuses ; and for
the principle of free bottoms, free goods.
In a conference with the Count de Vergennes, it was thought
better to leave to legislative regulation, on both sides, such modi-
fications of our commercial intercourse, as would voluntarily flow
from amicable dispositions. Without urging, we sounded the
ministers of the several European nations, at the court of Ver-
sailles, on their dispositions towards mutual commerce, and the
expediency of encouraging it by the protection of a treaty. Old
Frederic, of Prussia, met us cordially, and without hesitation, and
appointing the Baron de Thulemeyer, his minister at the Hague,
to negotiate with us, we communicated to him our Projct, which,
with little alteration by the King, was soon concluded. Den-
mark and Tuscany, entered also into negotiations with us. Other
powers appearing indifferent ; we did not think it proper to press
them. They seemed, in fact, to know little about us, but as
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 63
rebels, who had been successful in throwing oft* the yoke of the
mother country. They were ignorant of our commerce, which
had been always monopolized by England, and of the exchange
of articles it might offer advantageously to both parties. They
were inclined, therefore, to stand aloof, until they could see bet-
ter what relations might be usefully instituted with us. The
negotiations, therefore, begun with Denmark and Tuscany, we
protracted designedly, until our powers had expired ; and ab-
stained from making new propositions to others having no colo-
nies;, because our commerce being an exchange of raw for
wrought materials, is a competent price for admission into the
colonies of those possessing them ; but were we to give it, with-
out price, to others, all would claim it, without price, on the or-
dinary ground of gentis amicissimce.
Mr. Adams being appointed Minister Plenipotentiary of the
United States, to London, left us in June, and in July, 1785, Dr.
Franklin returned to America, and I was appointed his successor
at Paris. In February, 1786, Mr. Adams wrote to me, pressingly,
to join him in London immediately, as he thought he discovered
there some symptoms of better disposition towards us. Colonel
Smith, his secretary of legation, was the bearer of his urgencies
for my immediate attendance. I, accordingly, left Paris on the
1st of March, and, on my arrival in London, we agreed on a very
summary form of treaty, proposing an exchange of citizenship for
our citizens, our ships, and our productions generally, except as to
office. On my presentation, as usual, to the King and Queen, at
their levees, it was impossible for anything to be more ungracious,
than their notice of Mr. Adams and myself. I saw, at once, that
the ulcerations of mind in that quarter, left nothing to be expected
on the subject of my attendance ; and, on the first conference
with the Marquis of Caermarthen, the Minister for foreign affairs,
the distance and disinclination which he betrayed in his conver-
sation, the vagueness and evasions of his answers to us, con-
firmed me in the belief of their aversion to have anything to do
with us. We delivered him, however, our Proj^t, Mr. Adams not
despairing as much as I did, of its effect. We afterwards, by one
64 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
or more notes, requested his appointment of an interview and
conference, which, without directly declining, he evaded, by pre-
tences of other pressing occupations for the moment. After
staying there seven weeks, till within a few days of the expira-
tion of our commission, I informed the minister, "by note, that
my duties at Paris required my return to that place, and that I
should, with pleasure, be the bearer of any commands to his Am-
bassador there. He answered, that he had none, and, wishing
me a pleasant journey, I left London the 26th, and arrived at
Paris the 30th of April.
While in London, we entered into negotiations with the Chev-
alier Pinto, Ambassador of Portugal, at that place. The only ar-
ticle of difficulty between us was, a stipulation that our bread
stuff should be received in Portugal^ in the form of flour as well
as of grain. He approved of it himself, but observed that several
Nobles, of great influence at their court, were the owners of
wind-mills in the neighborhood of Lisbon, which depended much
for their profits on manufacturing our wheat, and that this stipu-
lation would endanger the whole treaty. He signed it, however,
and its fate was what he had candidly portended.
My duties, at Paris, were confined to a few objects ; the re-
ceipt of our whale-oils, salted fish, and salted meats, on favorable
terms ; the admission of our rice on equal terms with that of
Piedmont, Egypt and the Levant ; a mitigation of the monopolies
of our tobacco by the Farmers-general, and a free admission of
our productions into their islands, were the principal commercial
objects which required attention ; and, on these occasions, I was
powerfully aided by all the influence and the energies of the
Marquis de La Fayette, who proved himself equally zealous for
the friendship and welfare of both nations ; and, in justice, 1
must also say, that I found the government entirely disposed to
befriend us on all occasions, and to yield us every indulgence,
not absolutely injurious to themselves. The Count de Vergennes
had the reputation, with the diplomatic corps, of being wary and
slippery in his diplomatic intercourse ; and so he might be with
those whom he knew to be slippery, and double-faced themselves.
AUTOBIOGEAPHY. 65
As he saw that I had no indirect views, practised no subtleties,
meddled in no intrigues, pursued no concealed object, I found
him as frank, as honorable, as easy of access to reason, as any
man with whom I had ever done business ; and I must say the
same for his successor, Montmorin, one of the most honest and
worthy of human beings.
Our commerce, in the Mediterranean, was placed under early
alarm, by the capture of two of our vessels and crews by the
Barbary cruisers. I was very unwilling that we should acquiesce
in the European humiliation, of paying a tribute to those lawless
pirates, and endeavored to form an association of the powers sub-
ject to habitual depredations from them. I accordingly prepared,
and proposed to their Ministers at Paris, for consultation with
their governments, articles of a special confederation, in the fol-
lowing form :
" Proposals for concerted operation among the powers at war
with the piratical States of Barbary.
1. " It is proposed, that the several powers at war with the
piratical States of Barbary, or any two or more of them who shall
be willing, shall enter into a convention to carry on their opera-
tions against those States, in concert, beginning with the Al-
gerines.
2. " This convention shall remain open to any other powers,
who shall, at any future time, wish to accede to it ; the parties
reserving the right to prescribe the conditions of such accession,
according to the circumstances existing at the time it shall be
proposed.
3. " The object of the convention shall be, to compel th
piratical States to perpetual peace, without price, and to guarantee
that peace to each other.
4. " The operations for obtaining this peace shall be constant
cruises on their coast, with a naval force now to be agreed on.
It is not proposed that this force shall be so considerable as to
be inconvenient to any party. It is believed that half a dozen
frigates, with as many Tenders or Xebecs, one half of which
shall be in cruise, while the other half is at rest, will suffice.
VOL. i. 5
66 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
5. " The force agreed to be necessary, shall be furnished by the
parties, in certain quotas, now to be fixed ; it being expected, that
each will be willing to contribute, in such proportion as circum-
stances may render reasonable.
6. " As miscarriages often proceed from the want of harmony
among officers of different nations, the parties shall now consider
and decide, whether it will not be better to contribute their quotas
in money, to be employed in fitting out and keeping on duty, a
single fleet of the force agreed on.
7. " The difficulties and delays, too, which will attend the
management of these operations, if conducted by the parties
themselves separately, distant as their courts may be from one an-
other, and incapable of meeting in consultation, suggest a ques-
tion, whether it will not be better for them to give full powers,
for that purpose, to their Ambassadors, or other Ministers resident
at some one court of Europe, who shall form a Committee, or
Council, for carrying this convention into effect ; wherein, the
vote of each member shall be computed in proportion to the quota
of his sovereign, and the majority so computed, shall prevail in
all questions within the view of this convention. The court of
Versailles is proposed, on account of its neighborhood to the Medi-
terranean, and because all those powers are represented there, who
are likely to become parties to this convention.
8. " To save to that Council the embarrassment of personal
solicitations for office, and to assure the parties that their contribu-
tions will be applied solely to the object for which they are des-
tined, there shall be no establishment of officers for the said
Council, such as Commissioners, Secretaries, or any other kind,
with either salaries or perquisites, nor any other lucrative appoint-
ments but such whose functions are to be exercised on board the
said vessels.
9. " Should war arise between any two of the parties to this
convention, it shall not extend to this enterprise, nor interrupt it;
but as to this they shall be reputed at peace.
10. " When Algiers shall be reduced to peace, the other pirati-
cal States, u* they refuse to discontinue their piracies, shall be-
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 67
come the objects of this convention, either successively or to-
gether, as shall seem best.
11. "Where this convention would interfere with treaties ac-
tually existing between any of the parties and the States of Bar-
bary, the treaty shall prevail, and such party shall be allowed to
withdraw from the operations against that State."
Spain had just concluded a treaty with Algiers, at the expense
of three millions of dollars, and did not like to relinquish the
benefit of that, until the other party should fail in their observ-
ance of it. Portugal, Naples, the two Sicilies, Venice, Malta,
Denmark and Sweden, were favorably disposed to such an asso-
ciation ; but their representatives at Paris expressed apprehensions
that France would interfere, and, either openly or secretly, sup-
port the Barbary powers ; and they required, that I should ascer-
tain the dispositions of the Count de Vergennes on the subject.
I had before taken occasion to inform him of what we were pro-
posing, and, therefore, did not think it proper to insinuate any
doubt of the fair conduct of his government; but, stating our
propositions, I mentioned the apprehensions entertained by us,
that England would interfere in behalf of those piratical govern-
ments. " She dares not do it," said he. I pressed it no further.
The other Agents were satisfied with this indication of his senti-
ments, and nothing was now wanting to bring it into direct and
formal consideration, but the assent of our government, and their
authority to make the formal proposition. I communicated to them
the favorable prospect of protecting our commerce from the Barbary
depredations, and for such a continuance of time, as, by an exclu-
sion of them from the sea, to change their habits and characters,
from a predatory to an agricultural people : towards which, how-
ever, it was expected they would contribute a frigate, and its
expenses, to be in constant cruise. But they were in no condition
to make any such engagement. Their recommendatory powers
for obtaining contributions, were so openly neglected by the
several States, that they declined an engagement which they
were conscious they could not fulfil with punctuality ; and so it
fell through.
68 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
*In 1786, while at Paris, I became acquainted with John Led-
yard, of Connecticut, a man of genius, of some science, and of
fearless courage and enterprise. He had accompanied Captain
Cook in his voyage to the Pacific, had distinguished himself on
several occasions by an unrivalled intrepidity, and published an
account of that voyage, with details unfavorable to Cook's de-
portment towards the savages, and lessening our regrets at his
fate. Ledyard had come to Paris, in the hope of forming a com-
pany to engage in the fur trade of the Western coast of America.
He was disappointed in this, and, being out of business, and of a
roaming, restless character, I suggested to him the enterprise of
exploring the Western part of our continent, by passing through
St. Petersburg to Kamschatka, and procuring a passage thence
in some of the Russian vessels to Nootka Sound, whence he might
make his way across the continent to the United States ; and I
undertook to have the permission of the Empress of Russia so-
licited. He eagerly embraced the proposition, and M. de Scmou-
lin, the Russian Ambassador, and more particularly Baron Grimm,
the special correspondent of the Empress, solicited her permission
for him to pass through her dominions, to the Western coast of
America. And here I must correct a material error, which I have
committed in another place, to the prejudice of the Empress. In
writing some notes of the life of Captain Lewis, prefixed to his
" Expedition to the Pacific," I stated that the Empress gave the
permission asked, and afterwards retracted it. This idea, after a
lapse of twenty-six years, had so insinuated itself into my mind,
that I committed it to paper, without the least suspicion of error.
Yet I find, on recurring to my letters of that date, that the Em-
press refused permission at once, considering the enterprise as
entirely chimerical. But Ledyard would not relinquish it, per-
suading himself that, by proceeding to St. Petersburg, he could
satisfy the Empress of its practicability, and obtain her permis-
sion. He went accordingly, but she was absent on a visit to some
[* In the original MS., the paragraph ending "fell through," terminates page 81
between this page and the next, there is stitched in, a leaf of old writing, constituting
a memorandum, whereof note G. in the Appendix, is a copy.]
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 69
distant part of her dominions,* and he pursued his course to within
two hundred miles of Kamschatka, where he was overtaken by
an arrest from the Empress, brought back to Poland, and there
dismissed. I must therefore, in justice, acquit the Empress of
ever having for a moment countenanced, even by the indulgence
of an innocent passage through her territories, this interesting en-
terprise.
The pecuniary distresses of France produced this year a
measure of which there had been no example for near two cen-
turies, and the consequences of which, good and evil, are not yet
calculable. For its remote causes, we must go a little back.
Celebrated writers of France and England had already /
sketched good principles on the subject of government ; yet the
American Revolution seems first to have awakened the thinking
part of the French nation in general, from the sleep of despotism
in which they were sunk. The officers too, who had been to
America, were mostly young men, less shackled by habit and
prejudice, and more ready to assent to the suggestions of common
sense, and feeling of common rights, than others. They came
back with new ideas and impressions. The press, notwithstand-
ing its shackles, began to disseminate them ; conversation as-
sumed new freedoms ; Politics became the theme of all societies, '
male and female, and a very extensive and zealous party was
formed, which acquired the appellation of the Patriotic party,
who, sensible of the abusive government under which they lived,
sighed for occasions of reforming it. This party comprehended
all the honesty of the kingdom, sufficiently at leisure to think,
the men of letters, the easy Bourgeois, the young nobility, partly
from reflection, partly from mode ; for these sentiments became
matter of mode, and as such, united most of the young women
to the party. Happily for the nation, it happened, at the same
moment, that the dissipations of the Queen and court, the abuses
of the pension-list, and dilapidations in the administration of every
branch of the finances, had exhausted the treasures and credit of
the nation, insomuch that its most necessary functions were par-
* The Crimea.
70 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
alyzed. To reform these abuses would have overset the Minis-
ter ; to impose new taxes by the authority of the King, was
known to be impossible, from the determined opposition of the
Parliament to their enregistry. No resource remained then, but
to appeal to the nation. He advised, therefore, the call of an As-
sembly of the most distinguished characters of the nation, in the
hope that, by promises of various and valuable improvements in
the organization and regimen of the government, they would be
induced to authorize new taxes, to control the opposition of the
Parliament, and to raise the annual revenue to the level of ex-
penditures. An Assembly of Notables therefore, about one hun-
dred and fifty in number, named by the King, convened on the
22d of February. The Minister (Calonne) stated to them, that
the annual excess of expenses beyond the revenue, when Louis
XVI. came to the throne, was thirty-seven millions of livres ;
that four hundred and forty millions had been borrowed to re-es-
tablish the navy ; that the American war had cost them fourteen
hundred and forty millions (two hundred and fifty-six millions of
dollars), and that the interest of these sums, with other increased
expenses, had added forty millions more to the annual deficit.
(But a subsequent and more candid estimate made it fifty-six
millions.) He proffered them an universal redress of grievances,
laid open those grievances fully, pointed out sound remedies, and,
covering his canvas with objects of this magnitude, the deficit
dwindled to a little accessory, scarcely attracting attention. The
persons chosen were the most able and independent characters
in the kingdom, and their support, if it could be obtained, would
be enough for him. They improved the occasion for redressing
their grievances, and agreed that the public wants should be re-
lieved ; but went into an examination of the causes of them. It
was supposed that Colonne was conscious that his accounts could
not bear examination ; and it was said, and believed, that he
asked of the King, to send four members to the Bastile, of whom
the Marquis de La Fayette was one, to banish twenty others, and
two of his Ministers. The King found it shorter to banish him.
His successor went on in full concert with the Assembly. The
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 71
result was an augmentation of the revenue, a promise of econo-
mies in its expenditure, of an annual settlement of the public ac-
counts before a council, which the Comptroller, having been
heretofore obliged to settle only with the King in person, of course
never settled at all ; an acknowledgment that the King could not
lay a new tax, a reformation of the Criminal laws, abolition of
torture, suppression of corvees, reformation of the gabelles, re-
moval of the interior Custom Houses, free commerce of grain,
internal and external, and the establishment of Provincial Assem-
blies; which, altogether, constituted a great mass of improve-
ment in the condition of the nation. The establishment of the
Provincial Assemblies was, in itself, a fundamental improvement.
They would be of the choice of the people, one-third renewed
every year, in those provinces where there are no States, that is
to say, over about three-fourths of the kingdom. They would
be partly an Executive themselves, and partly an Executive Coun-
cil to the Intendant, to whom the Executive power, in his province,
had been heretofore entirely delegated. Chosen by the people,
they would soften the execution of hard laws, and, having a right
of representation to the King, they would censure bad laws, sug-
gest good ones, expose abuses, and their representations, when
united, would command respect. To the other advantages, might
be added the precedent itself of calling the Assemblce des Nota-
bles, which would perhaps grow into habit. The hope was, that
the improvements thus promised would be carried into effect;
that they would be maintained during the present reign, and that
that would be long enough for them to take some root in the con-
stitution, so that they might come to be considered as a part of that,
and be protected by time, and the attachment of the nation.
The Count de Vergennes had died a few days before the meet-
ing of the Assembly, and the Count de Montmorin had been
named Minister of Foreign Affairs, in his place. Villedeuil suc-
ceeded Calonne, as Comptroller General, and Lomenie de Bry-
enne, Archbishop of Thoulouse, afterwards of Sens, and ulti-
mately Cardinal Lomenie, was named Minister principal, with
whom the other Ministers were to transact the business of their
72 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
departments, heretofore done with the King in person ; and the
Duke de Nivemois, and M. de Malesherbes, were called to the
Council. On the nomination of the Minister principal, the Mar-
shals de Segur and de Castries retired from the departments of
War and Marine, unwilling to act subordinately, or to share the
blame of proceedings taken out of their direction. They were
succeeded by the Count de Brienne, brother of the Prime Minis-
ter, and the Marquis de La Luzerne, brother to him who had been
Minister in the United States.
A dislocated wrist, unsuccessfully set, occasioned advice from
my surgeon, to try the mineral waters of Aix, in Provence, as a
corroborant. I left Paris for that place therefore, on the 28th of
February, and proceeded up the Seine, through Champagne and
Burgundy, and down the Rhone through the Beaujolais by Lyons,
Avignon, Nismes to Aix ; where, finding on trial no benefit from
the waters, I concluded to visit the rice country of Piedmont, to
see if anything might be learned there, to benefit the rivalship
of our Carolina rice with that, and thence to make a tour of the
seaport towns of France, along its Southern and Western coast,
to inform myself, if anything could be done to favor our com-
merce with them. From Aix, therefore, I took my route by Mar-
seilles, Toulon, Hieres, Nice, across the Col de Tende, by Coni,
Turin, Vercelli, Novara, Milan, Pavia, Novi, Genoa. Thence,
returning along the coast of Savona, Noli, Albenga, Oneglia,
Monaco, Nice, Antibes, Frejus, Aix, Marseilles, Avignon, Nismes,
Montpellier, Frontignan, Cette, Agde, and along the canal of
Languedoc, by Bezieres, Narbonne, Cascassonne, Castelnaudari,
through the Souterrain of St. Feriol, and back by Castelnaudari,
to Toulouse ; thence to Montauban, and down the Garonne by
Langon to Bordeaux. Thence to Rochefort, la Rochelle, Nantes,
L'Orient ; then back by Rennes to Nantes, and up the Loire by
Angers, Tours, Amboise, Blois to Orleans, thence direct to Paris,
where I arrived on the 10th of June. Soon after my return from
this journey, to wit, about the latter part of July, I received my
younger daughter, Maria, from Virginia, by the way of London,
the youngest having died some time before.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 73
The treasonable perfidy of the Prince of Orange, Stadtholder
wad Captain General of the United Netherlands, in the war which
England waged against them, for entering into a treaty of com-
merce with the United States, is known to all. As their Execu-
tive officer, charged with the conduct of the war, he contrived to
baffle all the measures of the States General, to dislocate all their
military plans, and played false into the hands of England against
his own country, on every possible occasion, confident in her pro-
tection, and in that of the King of Pnissia, brother to his Princess.
The States General, indignant at this patricidal conduct, applied
to France for aid, according to the stipulations of the treaty con-
cluded with her in '85. It was assured to them readily, and in
cordial terms, in a letter from the Count de Vergennes, to the
Marquis de Verac, Ambassador of France at the Hague, of which
the following is an extract :
" Extrait de la deptche de Monsieur le Comte de Vergennes a
Monsieur le Marquis de Verac, Ambassadeur de France a la Haye,
du ler Mars, 1786.
" Le Roi concourrera, autant, qu' il sera en son pouvoir, au suc-
ces de la chose, et vous inviterez, de sa part, les patriotes de lui
commuriiquer leurs vues, leurs plans, et leurs envieux. Vous les
assurerez, que le roi prend un interet veritable a, leurs personnes
comme a leur cause, it qu' ils peuvent compter sur sa protection-
Us doiventy compter d' autant plus, Monsieur, que nous ne dissim-
ulons pas, que si Monsieur le Stadhoulder reprend son ancienne
influence, le systeme Anglois ne tardera pas de prevaloir, et que
notre alliance deviendroit un ctre de raison. Les Patriotes sen-
tiront facilement, que cette position seroit incompatible avec la
dignite, comme avec la consideration de sa majeste. Mais dans
le cas, Monsieur, ou les chefs des Patriotes auroient a, craindre
une scission, ils auroient le temps suffisant pour ramener ceux de
leurs amis, que les Anglomanes ont egares, et preparer les choses,
de maniere que la question de nouveau mise en deliberation, soit
decidee selon leurs desirs. Dans cette hypothese, le roi vous
autorise a agir de concert avec eux, de suivre la direction qu'
JLS jugeront devoir vous donner, et d' employer tons les moyens
74 JEFFEKSON'S WOKKS.
pour augmenter le nombre des partisans de la bonne cause. II
me reste, Monsieur, de vous parler de la surete personelle des
Patriotes. Vous les assurerez, que dans tout etat de cause, le roi
les prend sous sa protection immediate, et vous ferez connoitre,
partout ou vous le jugerez necessaire, que sa Majeste regarderoit
comme une offense personnelle, tout ce qu' on entreprenderoit
contre leur liberte. II est a, presumer que ce langage, tenu avec
energie, en imposera a 1'audace des Anglomanes, et que Monsieur
le Prince de Nassau croira courir quelque risque en provoquant le
ressentiment de sa Majeste."*
This letter was communicated by the Patriots to me, when at
Amsterdam, in 1788, and a copy sent by me to Mr. Jay, in my
letter to him of March 16, 1788.
The object of the Patriots was, to establish a representative and
republican government. The majority of the States General
were with them, but the majority of the populace of the towns
was with the Prince of Orange ; and that populace was playea
[* Extract from the despatch of the Count de Vergennes, to the Marquis de Verac,
Ambassador from France, at the Hague, dated March 1, 1786 :
"The King will give his aid, as far as may be in his power, towards the success of
the affair, and will, on his part, invite the Patriots to communicate to him their views,
their plans, and their discontents. You may assure them that the King takes a real
interest in themselves as well as their cause, and that they may rely upon his protec-
tion. On this they may place the greater dependence, as we do not conceal, that if
the Stadtholder resumes his former influence, the English System will soon prevail,
and our alliance become a mere affair of the imagination. The Patriots will readilv
feel, that this position would be incompatible both with the dignity and considera-
tion of his Majesty. But in case the Chief of the Patriots should have to fear a di-
vision, they would have time sufficient to reclaim those whom the Anglomaniacs had
misled, and to prepare matters iu such a manner, that the question when again agi-
tated, might be decided according to their wishes. In such a hypothetical case, the
King authorizes you to act in concert with them, to pursue the direction which they
may think proper to give you, and to employ every means to augment the number
of the partisans of the good cause. It remains for me to speak of the persomd se-
curity of the Patriots. You may assure them, that under every circumstance, the
King will take them under his immediate protection, and you will make known
wherever you may judge necessary, that his Majesty will regard as a personal offence
every undertaking against their liberty. It is to be presumed that this language,
energetically maintained, may have some effect on the audacity of the Anglomauiac?,
and that the Prince de Nassau will feel that he runs some risk in provoking the
resentment of his Majesty."]
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 75
off with great effect, by the triumvirate of * * * Harris, the Eng-
lish Ambassador, afterwards Lord Malmesbury, the Prince of
Orange, a stupid man, and the Princess as much a man as either
of her colleagues, in audaciousness, in enterprise, and in the thirst
of domination. By these, the mobs of the Hague were excited
against the members of the States General ; their persons were
insulted and endangered in the streets ; the sanctuary of their
houses was violated ; and the Prince, whose function and, duty it
was to repress and punish these violations of order, took no steps
for that purpose. The States General, for their own protection,
were therefore obliged to place their militia under the command
of a Committee. The Prince filled the courts of London and
Berlin with complaints at this usurpation of his prerogatives, and,
forgetting that he was but the first servant of a Republic,
marched his regular troops against the city of Utrecht, where the
States were in session. They were repulsed by the militia. His
interests now became marshalled with those of the public enemy,
and against his own country. The States, therefore, exercising
their rights of sovereignty, deprived him of all his powers. The
great Frederic had died in August, '86. He had never intended
to break with France in support of the Prince of Orange. Dur-
ing the illness of which he died, he had, through the Duke of
Brunswick, declared to the Marquis de La Fayette, who was then
at Berlin, that he meant not to support the English interest in
Holland : that he might assure the government of France, his
only wish was, that some honorable place in the Constitution
should be reserved for the Stadtholder and his children, and that
he would take no part in the quarrel, unless an entire abolition
of the Stadtholderate should be attempted. But his place was
now occupied by Frederic William, his great nephew, a man of
little understanding, much caprice, and very inconsiderate ; and
the Princess, his sister, although her husband was in arms against
the legitimate authorities of the country, attempting to go to
Amsterdam, for the purpose of exciting the mobs of that place,
and being refused permission to pass a military post on the way,
he put the Duke of Brunswick at the head of twenty thousand
76 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
men, and made demonstrations of marching on Holland. The
King of France hereupon declared, by his Charge des Affaires in
Holland, that if the Prussian troops continued to menace Holland
with an invasion, his Majesty, in quality of Ally, was determined
to succor that province. In answer to this, Eden gave official in-
formation to Count Montmorin, that England must consider as at
an end its convention with France relative to giving notice of its
naval armaments, and that she was arming generally. War be-
ing now imminent, Eden, since Lord Aukland, questioned me on
the effect of our treaty with France, in the case of a war, and
what might be our dispositions. I told him frankly, and without
hesitation, that our dispositions would be neutral, and that I
thought it would be the interest of both these powers that we
should be so ; because, it would relieve both from all anxiety as
to feeding their West India islands ; that England, too, by suf-
fering us to remain so, would avoid a heavy land war on our Con-
tinent, which might very much cripple her proceedings else-
where ; that our treaty, indeed, obliged us to receive into our
ports the armed vessels of France, with their prizes, and to refuse
admission to the prizes made on her by her enemies : that there
was a clause, also, by which we guaranteed to France her Ameri-
can possessions, which might perhaps force us into the war, if
these were attacked. " Then it will be war," said he, " for they
will assuredly be attacked." Listen, at Madrid, about the same
time, made the same inquiries of Carmichael. The Government
of France then declared a determination to form a camp of ob-
servation at Givet, commenced arming her marine, and named
the Bailli de Suffrein their Generalissimo on the Ocean. She
secretly engaged, also, in negotiations with Russia, Austria, and
Spain, to form a quadruple alliance. The Duke of Brunswick
having advanced to the confines of Holland, sent some of his
officers to Givet, to reconnoitre the state of things there, and re-
port them to him. He said afterwards, that " if there had been
only a few tents at that place, he should not have advanced far-
ther, for that the King would not, merely for the interest of his
sister, engage in a war with France." But, finding that there
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 77
was not a single company there, he boldly entered the country,
took their towns as fast as he presented himself before them, and
advanced on Utrecht. The States had appointed the Rhingrave
of Salm their Commander-in-Chief ; a Prince without talents,
without courage, and without principle. He might have held
out in Utrecht for a considerable time, but he surrendered the
place without firing a gun, literally ran away and hid himself, so
that for months it was not known what had become of him.
Amsterdam was then attacked, and capitulated. In the mean-
time, the negotiations for the quadruple alliance were proceeding
favorably ; but the secrecy with which they were attempted to
be conducted, was penetrated by Fraser, Charge des Affaires of
England at St. Petersburg, who instantly notified his court, and
gave the alarm to Prussia. The King saw at once what Avould
be his situation, between the jaws of France, Austria, and Rus-
sia. In great dismay, he besought the court of London not to
abandon him, sent Alvensleben to Paris to explain and soothe ;
and England, through the Duke of Dorset and Eden, renewed
her conferences for accommodation. The Archbishop, who shud-
dered at the idea of war, and preferred a peaceful surrender of
right to an armed vindication of it, received them with open
arms, entered into cordial conferences, and a declaration, and
counter-declaration, were cooked up at Versailles, and sent to
London for approbation. They were approved there, reached
Paris at one o'clock of the 27th, and were signed that night at
Versailles. It was said and believed at Paris, that M. de Mont-
morin, literally " pleuroit comme un enfant," when obliged to
sign this counter-declaration ; so distressed was he by the dishon-
or of sacrificing the Patriots, after assurances so solemn of pro-
tection, and absolute encouragement to proceed. The Prince of
Orange was reinstated in all his powers, now become regal. A
great emigration of the Patriots took place ; all were deprived of
office, many exiled, and their property confiscated. They were
received in France, and subsisted, for some time, on her bounty .
Thus fell Holland, by the treachery of her Chief, from her hon-
orable independence, to become a province of England ; and so,
78 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
also, her Stadth older, from the high station of the first citizen of
a free Republic, to be the servile Viceroy of a foreign Sovereign.
And this was effected by a mere scene of bullying and demon-
stration ; not one of the parties, France, England, or Prussia,
having ever really meant to encounter actual war for the interest
of the Prince of Orange. But it had all the effect of a real and
decisive war.
Our first essay, in America, to establish a federative govern-
ment had fallen, on trial, very short of its object. During the
war of Independence, while the pressure of an external enemy
hooped us together, and their enterprises kept us necessarily on
the alert, the spirit of the people, excited by danger, was a sup-
plement to the Confederation, and urged them to zealous exer-
tions, whether claimed by that instrument or not ; but, when
peace and safety were restored, and every man became engaged
in useful and profitable occupation, less attention was paid to the
calls of Congress. The fundamental defect of the Confederation
was, that Congress was not authorized to act immediately on the
people, and by its own officers. Their power was only requisi-
tory, and these requisitions were addressed to the several Legisla-
tures, to be by them carried into execution, without other coer-
cion than the moral principle of duty. This allowed, in fact, a
negative to every Legislature, on every measure proposed by
Congress ; a negative so frequently exercised in practice, as to
benumb the action of the Federal government, and to render it
inefficient in its general objects, and more especially in pecuniary
and foreign concerns. The want, too, of a separation of the
Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary functions, worked disad-
vantageously in practice. Yet this state of things afforded a
happy augury of the future march of our Confederacy, when it
was seen that the good sense and good dispositions of the people,
as soon as they perceived the incompetence of their first compact,
instead of leaving its correction to insurrection and civil war,
agreed, with one voice, to elect deputies to a general Convention,
who should peaceably meet and agree on such a Constitution as
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 79
" would ensure peace, justice, liberty, the common defence and
general welfare*"
(JPhis Convention met at Philadelphia on the 25th of May, '87.
It sat with closed doors, and kept all its proceedings secret, until
its dissolution on the 17th of September, when the results of its
labors were published all together. I received a copy, early
in November, and read and contemplated its provisions with great
satisfaction. As not a member of the Convention, however, nor
probably a single citizen of the Union, had approved it in all its
parts, so I, too, found articles which I thought objectionable.
The absence of express declarations ensuring freedom of reli-
gion, freedom of the press, freedom of the person under the un-
interrupted protection of the Habeas corpus, and trial by jury in
Civil as well as in Criminal cases, excited my jealousy ; and the
re-eligibility of the President for life, I quite disapproved. I ex-
pressed freely, in letters to my friends, and most particularly to
Mr. Madison and General Washington, my approbations and ob-
jections. How the good should be secured and the ill brought
to rights, was the difficulty. | To refer it back to a new Conven-
tion might endanger the loss of the whole. My first idea was,
that the nine States first acting, should accept it unconditionally,
and thus secure what in it was good, and that the four last should
accept on the previous condition, that certain amendments should
be agreed to ; but a better course was devised, of accepting the
whole, and trusting that the good sense and honest intentions of
our citizens, would make the alterations which should be deemed
necessary. Accordingly, all accepted, six without objection, and
seven with recommendations of specified amendments. Those
respecting the press, religion, and juries, with several others, of
great value, were accordingly made ; but the Habeas corpus was
left to the discretion of Congress, and the amendment against
the re-eligibility of the President was not proposed. My fears
of that feature were founded on the importance of the office, on
the fierce contentions it might excite among ourselves, if contin-
uable for life, and the dangers of interference, either with money
or arms, by foreign nations, to whom the choice of an American
gO JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
President might become interesting. Examples of this abounded
in history ; in the case of the Roman Emperors, for instance ; of
the Popes, while of any significance ; of the German Emperors ;
the Kings of Poland, and the Deys of Barbary. I had observed,
too, in the feudal history, and in the recent instance, particularly,
of the Stadtholder of Holland, how easily offices, or tenures for
life, slide into inheritances. My wish, therefore, was, that the
President should be elected for seven years, and be ineligible
afterwards. This term I thought sufficient to enable him, with
the concurrence of the Legislature, to carry through and estab-
lish any system of improvement he should propose for the gene-
ral good. But the practice adopted, I think, is better, allowing
his continuance for eight years, with a liability to be dropped at
half way of the term, mal^ng that a period of probation. That
his continuance should be restrained to seven years, was the
opinion of the Convention at an earlier stage of its session, when
it voted that term, by a majority of eight against two, and by a
simple majority that he should be ineligible a second time. This
opinion was confirmed by the House so late as July 26, referred
to the Committee of detail, reported favorably by them, and
changed to the present form by final vote, on the last day but
one only of their session. Of this change, three States expressed
their disapprobation ; New York, by recommending an amend-
ment, that the President should riot be eligible a third time, and
Virginia and North Carolina that he should not be capable of
serving more than eight, in any term of sixteen years ; and
though this amendment has not been made in form, yet practice
seems to have established it. The example of four Presidents
voluntarily retiring at the end of their eighth year, and the pro-
gress of public opinion, that the principle is salutary, have given
it in practice the force of precedent and usage ; insomuch, that,
should a President consent to be a candidate for a third election,
I trust he would be rejected, on this demonstration of ambitious
views.
But there was another amendment, of which none of us thought
at the time, and in the omission of which, lurks the germ that is
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 81
to destroy this happy combination of National powers in the
General government, for matters of National concern, and inde-
pendent powers in the States, for what concerns the States seve-
rally. In England, it was a great point gained at the Revolution,
that the commissions of the Judges, which had hitherto been
during pleasure, should thenceforth be made during good beha-
vior. A Judiciary, dependent on the will of the King, had
proved itself the most oppressive of all tools, in the hands of
that Magistrate. Nothing, then, could be more salutary, than a
change there, to the tenure of good behavior ; and the question
of good behavior, left to the vote of a simple majority in the two
Houses of Parliament. Before the Revolution, we were all good
English Whigs, cordial in their free principles, and in their jeal-
ousies of their Executive Magistrate. These jealousies are very
apparent, in all our state Constitutions ; and, in the General gov-
ernment in this instance, we have gone even beyond the Eng-
lish caution, by requiring a vote of two-thirds, in one of the
Houses, for removing a Judge ; a vote so impossible, where* any
defence is made, before men of ordinary prejudices and passions,
that our Judges are effectually independent of the nation. But
this ought not to be. I would not, indeed, make them depend-
ent on the Executive authority, as they formerly were in Eng-
land ; but I deem it indispensable to the continuance of this gov-
ernment, that they should be submitted to some practical and im-
partial control ; and that this, to be imparted, must be compound-
ed of a mixture of State and Federal authorities. It is not
enough that honest men are appointed Judges. All know the
influence of interest on the mind of man, and how unconsciously
his judgment is warped by that influence. To this bias add that
of the esprit de corps, of their peculiar maxim and creed, that
" it is the office of a good Judge to enlarge his jurisdiction," and
the absence of responsibility ; and how can we expect impartial
decision between the General government, of which they are
* Iu the impeachment of Judge Pickering, of New Hampshire, a habitual and
maniac drunkard, no defence was made. Had there been, the party Tote of more
than one-third of the Senate would have acquitted him.
VOL. I. 6
82 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
themselves so eminent a part, and an individual State, from which
they have nothing to hope or fear ? We have seen, too, that
contrary to all correct example, they are in the hahit of going
out of the question before them, to throw an anchor ahead, and
grapple further hold for future advances of power. They are
then, in fact, the corps of sappers and miners, steadily working
to undermine the independent rights of the States, and to con-
solidate all power in the hands of that government in which
they have so important a freehold estate. But it is not by the
consolidation, or concentration of powers, but by their distribu-
tion, that good government is effected. Were not this great
country already divided into States, that division must be made,
that each might do for itself what concerns itself directly, and
what it can so much better do than a distant authority. Every
State again is divided into counties, each to take care of what
lies within its local bounds ; each county again into townships
or wards, to manage minuter details ; and every ward into farms,
to be governed each by its individual proprietor. Were we di-
rected from Washington when to sow, and when to reap, we
should soon want bread. It is by this partition of cares, descend-
ing in gradation from general to particular, that the mass of hu-
man affairs may be best managed, for the good and prosperity of
all. I repeat, that I do not charge the Judges with wilful and ill-
intentioned error ; but honest error must be arrested, where its
toleration leads to public ruin. As, for the safety of society, we
commit honest maniacs to Bedlam, so judges should be with-
drawn from their bench, whose erroneous biases are leading us
to dissolution. It may, indeed, injure them in fame or in for-
tune ; but it saves the Republic, which is the first and supreme
law.
Among the debilities of the government of the Confederation,
no one was more distinguished or more distressing, than the utter
impossibility of obtaining, from the States, the moneys necessary
for the payment of debts, or even for the ordinary expenses of the
government. Some contributed a little, some less, and some
nothing ; and the last furnished at length an excuse for the first
AUTOBIOGKAPHY. 88
to do nothing also. Mr. Adams, while residing at the Hague,
had a general authority to borrow what sums might be requisite,
for ordinary and necessary expenses. Interest on the public debt,
and the maintenance of the diplomatic establishment in Europe,
had been habitually provided in this way. He was now elected
Vice-President of the United States, was soon to return to Ame-
rica, and had referred our bankers to me for future counsel, on
our affairs in their hands. But I had no powers, no instructions,
no means, and no familiarity with the subject. It had always
been exclusively under his management, except as to occasional
and partial deposits in the hands of Mr. Grand, banker in Paris,
for special and local purposes. These last had been exhausted
for some time, and I had fervently pressed the Treasury board to
replenish this particular deposit, as Mr. Grand now refused to
make further advances. They answered candidly, that no funds
could be obtained until the new government should get into action,
and have time to make its arrangements. Mr. Adams had re-
ceived his appointment to the court of London, while engaged at
Paris, with Dr. Franklin and myself, in the negotiations under our
joint commissions. He had repaired thence to London, without
returning to the Hague, to take leave of that government. He
thought it necessary, however, to do so now, before he should
leave Europe, and accordingly went there. I learned his depar-
ture from London, by a letter from Mrs. Adams, received on the
very day on which he would arrive at the Hague. A consulta-
tion with him, and some provision for the future, was indispen-
sable, while we could yet avail ourselves of his powers ; for when
they would be gone, we should be without resource. I was
daily dunned by a Company who had formerly made a small
loan to the United States, the principal of which was now become
due ; and our bankers in Amsterdam, had notified me that the
interest on our general debt would be expected in June; that if
we failed to pay it, it would be deemed an act of bankruptcy, and
would effectually destroy the credit of the United States, and all
future prospect of obtaining money there ; that the loan they had
been, authorized to open, of which a third only was filled, had
84 JEFFEKSON'S WORKS.
now ceased to get forward, and rendered desperate that hope of
resource. I saw that there was not a moment to lose, and set out
for the Hague on the second morning after receiving the informa-
tion of Mr. Adams's journey. I went the direct road by Louvres,
Senlis, Roye, Pont St. Maxence, Bois le due, Gournay, Peronne,
Cambray, Bouchain, Valenciennes, Mons, Bruxelles, Malines, Ant-
werp, Mordick, and Rotterdam, to the Hague, where I happily
found Mr. Adams. He concurred with me at once in opinion,
that something must be done, and that we ought to risk ourselves
on doing it without instructions, to save the credit of the United
States. We foresaw, that before the new government could, be
adopted, assembled, establish its financial system, get the money
into the Treasury, and place it in Europe, considerable time would
elapse ; that, therefore, we had better provide at once, for the
years '88, '89, and '90, in order to place our government at its
ease, and our credit in security, during that trying interval. We
set out, therefore, by the way of Leyden, for Amsterdam, where
we arrived on the 10th. I had prepared an estimate, showing
that
Florins.
There would be necessary for the year '88 531,937-10
'89538,540
'90473,540
Total, 1,544,017-10
Florins.
To meet this, the bankers had in hand, 79,268-2-8
and the unsold bonds would yield, 542,800 622,068-2-8
Leaving a deficit of . . . . 921,949-7-4
We proposed then to borrow a million, yielding 920,000
Which would leave a small deficiency of . . 1 ,949-7-4
Mr. Adams accordingly executed 1000 bonds, for 1000 florins
each, and deposited them in the hands of our bankers, with in-
structions, however, not to issue them until Congress should ratify
the measure. This done, he returned to London, and I set out
for Paris ; and, as nothing urgent forbade it, I determined to re-
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 85
turn along the banks of the Rhine, to Strasburg, and thence strike
off to Paris. I accordingly left Amsterdam on the 30th of March,
and proceeded by Utrecht, Nimeguen, Cleves, Duysberg, Dus-
seldorf, Cologne, Bonne, Coblentz, Nassau, Hocheim, Frankfort,
and made an excursion to Hanau, thence to Mayence, and another
excursion to Rudesheim, and Johansberg ; then by Oppenheim,
Worms, and Manheim, making an excursion to Heidelberg, then
by Spire, Carlsruh, Rastadt and Kelh, to Strasburg, where I ar-
rived April the 16th, and proceeded again on the 18th, by Phals-
bourg, Fenestrange, Dieuze, Moyenvie, Nancy, Toul, Ligny,
Barleduc, St. Diziers, Vitry, Chalons sur Marne, Epernay, Cha-
teau Thierri, Meaux, to Paris, where I arrived on the 23d of
April ; and I had the satisfaction to reflect, that by this journey
our credit was secured, the new government was placed at ease
for two years to come, and that, as well as myself, relieved from
Ihe torment of incessant duns, whose just complaints could not
be silenced by any means within our power.
A Consular Convention had been agreed on in '84, between Dr.
Franklin and the French government, containing several articles,
so entirely inconsistent with the laws of the several States, and
the general spirit of our citizens, that Congress withheld their
ratification, and sent it back to me, with instructions to get those
articles expunged, or modified so as to render them compatible
with our laws. The Minister unwillingly released us from these
concessions, which, indeed, authorized the exercise of powers very
offensive in a free State. After much discussion, the Convention
was reformed in a considerable degree, and was signed by the
Count Montmorin and myself, on the 14th of November, '88 ;
not, indeed, such as I would have wished, but such as could be
obtained with good humor and friendship.
On my return from Holland, I found Paris as I had left it, still
in high fermentation. Had the Archbishop, on the close of the
Assembly of Notables, immediately carried into operation the
measures contemplated, it was believed they would all have been
registered by the Parliament; but he was slow, presented his
edicts, one after another, and at considerable intervals, which
86 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
gave time for the feelings excited by the proceedings of the
Notables to cool off, new claims to be advanced, and a pressure
to arise for a fixed constitution, not subject to changes at the will
of the King. Nor should we wonder at this pressure, when we
consider the monstrous abuses of power under which this people
were ground to powder ; when we pass in review the weight of
their taxes, and the inequality of their distribution ; the oppress-
ions of the tithes, the tailles, the corvees, the gabelles, the farms
and the barriers ; the shackles on commerce by monopolies ; on
industry by guilds and corporations ; on the freedom of conscience,
of thought, and of speech ; on the freedom of the press by the
Censure ; and of the person by Lettres de Cachet ; the cruelty
of the Criminal code generally ; the atrocities of the Rack ; the ve-
nality of the Judges, and their partialities to the rich ; the monopoly
of Military honors by the Noblesse ; the enormous expenses of
the Queen, the Princes and the Court ; the prodigalities of pen-
sions ; and the riches, luxury, indolence and immorality of the
Clergy. Surely under such a mass of misrule and oppression, a
people might justly press for a thorough reformation, and might
even dismount their rough-shod riders, and leave them to walk on
their own legs. The edicts, relative to the corvees and free cir-
culation of grain, were first presented to the Parliament and re-
gistered ; but those for the impCt territorial, and stamp tax, offered
some time after, were refused by the Parliament, which proposed
a call of the States General, as alone competent to their authoriza-
tion. Their refusal-produced a Bed of justice, and their exile to
Troyes. The Advocates, however, refusing to attend them, a
suspension in the administration of justice took place. The
Parliament held out for awhile, but the ennui of their exile and
absence from Paris, began at length to be felt, and some disposi-
tions for compromise to appear. On their consent, therefore, to
prolong some of the former taxes, they were recalled from exile,
the King met them in session, November 19, '87, promised to call
the States General in the year '92, and a majority expressed
their assent to register an edict for successive and annual loans
from 1788 to '92; but a protest being entered by the Duke
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 87
of Orleans, and this encouraging others in a disposition to
retract, the King ordered peremptorily the registry of the
edict, and left the assembly abruptly. The Parliament imme-
diately protested, that the votes for the enregistry had not been
legally taken, and that they gave no sanction to the loans pro-
posed. This was enough to discredit and defeat them. Here-
upon issued another edict, for the establishment of a cour pleniere,
and the suspension of all the Parliaments in the kingdom. This
being opposed, as might be expected, by reclamations from all
the Parliaments and Provinces, the King gave way, and by an
edict of July 5th, '88, renounced his cour pleniere, and promised
the States General for the 1st of May, of the ensuing year ; and
the Archbishop, finding the times beyond his faculties, accepted
the promise of a Cardinal's hat, was removed [September '88]
from the Ministry, and M. Necker was called to the department
of finance. The innocent rejoicings of the people of Paris on
this change provoked the interference of an officer of the city
guards, whose order for their dispersion not being obeyed, he
charged them with fixed bayonets, killed two or three, and wound-
ed many. This dispersed them for the moment, but they col-
lected the next day in great numbers, burnt ten or twelve guard-
houses, killed two or three of the guards, and lost six or eight
more of their own number. The city was hereupon put under
Martial law, and after awhile the tumult subsided. The effect of
this change of ministers, and the promise of the States General
at an early day, tranquillized the nation. But two great questions
now ocurrred. 1st. What proportion shall the number of depu-
ties of the Tiers etat bear to those of the Nobles and Clergy ?
And 2d, shall they sit in the same or in distinct apartments ? M.
Necker, desirous of avoiding himself these knotty questions, pro-
posed a second call of the same Notables, and that their advice
should be asked on the subject. They met, November 9, '88 ;
and, by five bureaux against one, they recommended the forms
of the States General of 1614; wherein the Houses were sepa-
rate, and voted by orders, not by persons. But the whole nation
declaring at once against this, and that the Tiers etat should be,
88 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
in numbers, equal to both the other orders, and the Parliament
deciding for the same proportion, it was determined so to be, by
a declaration of December 27th, '88. A Report of M. Necker,
to the King, of about the same date, contained other very import-
ant concessions. 1. That the King could neither lay a new tax",
nor prolong an old one. 2. It expressed a readiness to agree on
the periodical meeting of the States. 3. To consult on the ne-
cessary restriction on Lettres de Cachet; and 4. How far the
press might be made free. 5. It admits that the States are to
appropriate the public money ; and 6. That Ministers shall be
responsible for public expenditures. And these concessions came
from the very heart of the King. He had not a wish but for the
good of the nation ; and for that object, no personal sacrifice
would ever have cost him a moment's regret ; but his mind was
weakness itself, his constitution timid, his judgment null, and
without sufficient firmness even to stand by the faith of his word.
His Q,ueen, too, haughty and bearing no contradiction, had an
absolute ascendency over him ; and around her were rallied the
King's brother d'Artois, the court generally, and the aristocratic
part of his Ministers, particularly Breteuil, Broglio, Yauguyon,
Foulon, Luzerne, men whose principles of government were
those of the age of Louis XIV. Against this host, the good
counsels of Necker, Montmorin, St. Priest, although in unison
with the wishes of the King himself, were of little avail. The
resolutions of the morning, formed under their advice, would be
reversed in the evening, by the influence of the Queen and
court. But the hand of heaven weighed heavily indeed on the
machinations of this junto ; producing collateral incidents, not
arising out of the case, yet powerfully co-exciting the nation to
force a regeneration of its government, and overwhelming with
accumulated difficulties, this liberticide resistance. For, while
laboring under the want of money for even ordinary purposes, in
a government which required a million of livres a day, and
driven to the last ditch by the universal call for liberty, there
came on a winter of such severe cold, as was without example in
the memory of man, or in the written records of history. The
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 89
Mercury was at times 50 below the freezing point of Faren-
heit, and 22 below that of Reaumur. All out-door labor was
suspended, and the poor, without the wages of labor, were, of
course, without either bread or fuel. The government found its
necessities aggravated by that of procuring immense quantities of
fire-wood, and of keeping great fires at all the cross streets, around
which the people gathered in crowds, to avoid perishing with cold.
Bread, too, was to be bought, and distributed daily, gratis, until a
relaxation of the season should enable the people to work ; and
the slender stock of bread stuff had for some time threatened fam-
ine, and had raised that article to an enormous price. So great,
indeed, was the scarcity of bread, that, from the highest to the
lowest citizen, the bakers were permitted to deal but a scanty al-
lowance per head, even to those who paid for it ; and, in cards of
invitation to dine in the richest houses, the guest was notified to
bring his own bread. To eke out the existence of the people,
every person who had the means, was called on for a weekly sub-
scription, which the Cures collected, and employed in providing
messes for the nourishment of the poor, and vied with each other
in devising such economical compositions of food, as would sub-
sist the greatest number with the smallest means. This want
of bread had been foreseen for some time past, and M. de Mont-
morin had desired me to notify it in America, and that, in addition
to the market price, a premium should be given on what should
be brought from the United States. Notice was accordingly
given, and produced considerable supplies. Subsequent informa-
tion made the importations from America, during the months of
March, April and May, into the Atlantic ports of France, amount
to about twenty-one thousand barrels of flour, besides what went
to other ports, and in other months ; while our supplies to their
West Indian islands relieved them also from that drain. This
distress for bread continued till July.
Hitherto no acts of popular violence had been produced by the
struggle for political reformation. Little riots, on ordinary inci-
dents, had taken place as at other times, in different parts of the
kingdom, in whi~,h some lives, perhaps a dozen or twenty, had
90 JEFFERSON'S WOKKS.
been lost ; but in the month of April, a more serious one occurred
in Paris, unconnected, indeed, with the Revolutionary principle,
but making part of the history of the day. The Fauxbourg St.
Antoine is a quarter of the city inhabited entirely by the class
of day laborers and journeymen in every line. A rumor was
spread among them, that a great paper manufacturer, of the name
of Reveillon, had proposed, on some occasion, that their wages
should be lowered to fifteen sous a day. Inflamed at once into
rage, and without inquiring into its truth, they flew to his house
in vast numbers, destroyed everything in it, and in his magazines
and work-shops, without secreting, however, a pin's worth to
themselves, and were continuing this work of devastation, when
the regular troops were called in. Admonitions being disregard-
ed, they were of necessity fired on, and a regular action ensued,
in which about one hundred of them were killed, before the rest
would disperse. There had rarely passed a year without such a
riot, in some part or other of the Kingdom ; and this is distin-
guished only as cotemporary with the Revolution, although not
produced by it.
The States General were opened on the 5th of May, '89, by
speeches from the King, the Garde des Sceaux, Lamoignon, and
M. Necker. The last was thought to trip too lightly over the
constitutional reformations which were expected. His notices of
them in this speech, were not as full as in his previous l Rapport
au Roi.' This was observed, to his disadvantage ; but much al-
lowance should have been made for the situation in which he
was placed, between his own counsels, and those of the ministers
and party of the court. Overruled in his own opinions, compelled
to deliver, and to gloss over those of his opponents, and even to
keep their secrets, he could not come forward in his own attitude.
The composition of the Assembly, although equivalent, on the
whole, to what had been expected, was something different in its
elements. It had been supposed, that a superior education would
carry into the scale of the Commons a respectable portion of the
Noblesse. It did so as to those of Paris, of its vicinity, and of
the other considerable cities, whose greater intercourse with en-
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 91
lightened society had liberalized their minds, and prepared them
to advance up to the measure of the times. But the Noblesse of
the country, which constituted two-thirds of that body, were far
in their rear. Residing constantly on their patrimonial feuds,
and familiarized, by daily habit, with Seigneurial powers and
practices, they had not yet learned to suspect their inconsistence
with reason and right. They were willing to submit to equality
of taxation, but not to descend from their rank and prerogatives
to be incorporated in session with the Tiers etat. Among the
Clergy, on the other hand, it had been apprehended that the
higher orders of the Hierarchy, by their wealth and connections,
would have carried the elections generally ; but it turned out, that
in most cases, the lower clergy had obtained the popular majorities.
These consisted of the Cures, sons of the peasantry, who had been
employed to do all the drudgery of parochial services for ten,
twenty, or thirty Louis a year ; while their superiors were consum-
ing their princely revenues in palaces of luxury and indolence.
The objects for which this body was convened, being of the
first order of importance, I felt it very interesting to understand
the views of the parties of which it was composed, and especially
the ideas prevalent as to the organization contemplated for their
government. I went, therefore, daily from Paris to Versailles,
and attended their debates, generally till the hour of adjourn-
ment. Those of the Noblesse were impassioned and tempestu-
ous. They had some able men on both sides, actuated by equal
zeal. The debates of the Commons were temperate, rational,
and inflexibly firm. As preliminary to all other business, the
awful questions came on, shall the States sit in one, or in distinct
apartments ? And shall they vote by heads or houses ? The op-
position was soon found to consist of the Episcopal order among
the clergy, and two-thirds of the Noblesse ; while the Tiers etat
were, to a man, united and determined. After various proposi-
tions of compromise had failed, the Commons undertook to cut
the Gordian knot. The Abbe Sieyes, the most logical head of
the nation, (author of the pamphlet " Q-u'est ce que le Tiers etat ?"
which had electrified that country, as Paine 's Common Sense did
92 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
us,) after an impressive speech on the 10th of June, moved that
i last invitation should be sent to the Noblesse and Clergy, to at-
tend in the hall of the States, collectively or individually, for the
verification of powers, to which the Commons would proceed
immediately, either in their presence or absence. This verifica-
tion being finished, a motion was made, on the 15th, that they
should constitute themselves a National Assembly; which was
decided on the 17th, by a majority of four-fifths. During the
debates on this question, about twenty of the Cures had joined
them, and a proposition was made, in the chamber of the Clergy,
that their whole body should join. This was rejected, at first,
by a small majority only ; but, being afterwards somewhat modi-
fied, it was decided affirmatively, by a majority of eleven. While
this was under debate, and unknown to the court, to wit, on the
19th, a council was held in the afternoon, at Marly, wherein it
was proposed that the King should interpose, by a declaration of
his sentiments, in a seance royale. A form of declaration was
proposed by Necker, which, while it censured, in general, the pro-
ceedings, both of the Nobles and Commons, announced the King's
views, such as substantially to coincide with the Commons. It
was agreed to in Council, the seance was fixed for the 22d, the
meetings of the States were till then to be suspended, and every-
thing, in the meantime, kept secret. The members, the next
morning (the 20th) repairing to their house, as usual, found the
doors shut and guarded, a proclamation posted up for a seance
royale on the 22d, and a suspension of their meetings in the
meantime. Concluding that their dissolution was now to take
place, they repaired to a building called the " Jeu de paiune " (or
Tennis court) and there bound themselves by oath to each other,
never to separate, of their own accord, till they had settled a con-
stitution for the nation, on a solid basis, and, if separated by force,
that they would reassemble in some other place. The next day
they met in the church of St. Louis, and were joined by a ma-
jority of Iho clergy. The heads of the Aristocracy saw that all
was lost without some bold exertion. The King was still at
Marly. Nobody was permitted to approach him but their friends.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 93
He was assailed by falsehoods in all shapes. He was made lo
believe that the Commons were about to absolve the army from
their oath of fidelity to him, and to raise their pay. The court
party were now all rage and desperation. They procured a com-
mittee to be held, consisting of the King and his Ministers, to
which Monsieur and the Count d'Artois should be admitted. At
this committee, the latter attacked M. Necker personally, ar-
raigned his declaration, and proposed one which some of his
prompters had put into his hands. M. Necker was brow-beaten
and intimidated, and the King shaken. He determined that the
two plans should be deliberated on the next day, and the seance
royale put off a day longer. This encouraged a fiercer attack on
M. Necker the next day. His draught of a declaration was en-
tirely broken up, and that of the Count d'Artois inserted into it,
Himself and Montmorin offered their resignation, which was re-
fused ; the Count d'Artois saying to M. Necker, " No sir, you
must be kept as the hostage ; we hold you responsible for all the
ill which shall happen." This change of plan was immediately
whispered without doors. The Noblesse were in triumph ; the
people in consternation. I was quite alarmed at this state of
things. The soldiery had not yet indicated which side they
should take, and that which they should support would be sure
to prevail. I considered a successful reformation of government
in France, as insuring a general reformation through Europe, and
the resurrection, to a new life, of their people, now ground to dust *
by the abuses of the governing powers. I was much acquainted
with the leading patriots of the Assembly. Being from a country
which had successfully passed through a similar reformation, they
were disposed to my acquaintance, and had some confidence in
me. I urged, most strenuously, an immediate compromise ; to
secure what the government was now ready to yield, and trust to
future occasions for what might still be wanting. It was well
understood that the King would grant, at this time, 1. Freedom
of the person by Habeas corpus : 2. Freedom of conscience : 3.
Freedom of the press : 4. Trial by jury : 5. A representative Leg-
islature : 6. Annual meetings : 7. The origination of laws : 8.
94 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
The exclusive right of taxation and appropriation : and 9. The
responsibility of Ministers ; and with the exercise of these powers
they could obtain, in future, whatever might be further necessary
to improve and preserve their constitution. They thought other-
wise, however, and events have proved their lamentable error.
For, after thirty years of war, foreign and domestic, the loss of
millions of lives, the prostration of private happiness, and the
foreign subjugation of their own country for a time, they have
obtained no more, nor even that securely. They were uncon-
scious of (for who could foresee?) the melancholy sequel of their
well-meant perseverance ; that their physical force would be
usurped by a first tyrant to trample on the independence, and
even the existence, of other nations : that this would afford a fatal
example for the atrocious conspiracy of Kings against their people ;
would generate their unholy and homicide alliance to make com-
mon cause among themselves, and to crush, by the power of the
whole, the efforts of any part to moderate their abuses and op-
pressions. .
When the King passed, the next day, through the lane formed
from the Chateau to the " Hotel des etats," there was a dead si-
lence. He was about an hour in the House, delivering his speech
and declaration. On his coming out, a feeble cry of " vive le Roi"
was raised by some children, but the people remained silent and
sullen. In the close of his speech, he had ordered that the mem-
bers should follow him, and resume their deliberations the next
day. The Noblesse followed him, and so did the Clergy, except
about thirty, who, with the Tiers, remained in the room, and en-
tered into deliberation. They protested against what the King had
done, adhered to all their former proceedings, and resolved the
inviolability of their own persons. An officer came, to order them
out of the room in the King's name. " Tell those who sent you,"
said Mirabeau, " that we shall not move hence but at our own will,
or the point of the bayonet." In the afternoon, the people, uneasy,
began to assemble in great numbers in the courts, and vicinities
of the palace. This produced alarm. The Queen sent for M.
Necker. He was conducted, amidst the shouts and acclamations
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 95
of the multitude, who filled all the apartments of the palace. He
was a few minutes only with the Queen, and what passed between
them did not transpire. The King went out to ride. He passed
through the crowd to his carriage, and into it, without being in the
least noticed. As M. Necker followed him, universal acclama-
tions were raised of " vive Monsier Necker, vive le sauveur de la
France opprimce." He was conducted back to his house with
the same demonstrations of affection and anxiety. About two hun-
dred deputies of the Tiers, catching the enthusiasm of the mo-
ment, went to his house, and extorted from him a promise that he
would not resign. On the 25th, forty-eight of the Nobles joined
the Tiers, and among them the Duke of Orleans. There were
then with them one hundred and sixty-four members of the Clergy,
although the minority of that body still sat apart, and called them-
selves the Chamber of the Clergy. On the 26th, the Archbishop
of Paris joined the Tiers, as did some others of the Clergy and
of the Noblesse.
These proceedings had thrown the people into violent ferment.
It gained the soldiery, first of the French guards, extended to
those of every other denomination, except the Swiss, and even to
the body guards of the King. They began to quit their barracks,
to assemble in squads, to declare they would defend the life of the
King, but would not be the murderers of their fellow-citizens.
They called themselves the soldiers of the nation, and left now no
doubt on which side they would be, in case of rupture. Similar
accounts came in from the troops in other parts of the kingdom,
giving good reason to believe they would side with their fathers
and brothers, rather than with their officers. The operation of
this medicine at Versailles was as sudden as it was powerful.
The alarm there was so complete, that in the afternoon of the
27th, the King wrote, with his own hand, letters to the Presidents
of the Clergy and Nobles, engaging them immediately to join the
Tiers. These two bodies were debating, and hesitating, when
notes from the Count d'Artois decided their compliance. They
went in a body, and took their seats with the Tiers, and thus
rendered the union of the orders in one chamber complete.
96 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
The Assembly now entered on the business of their mission,
and first proceeded to arrange the order in which they would take
up the heads of their constitution, as follows :
First, and as Preliminary to the whole, a general Declaration
of the Rights of Man. Then, specifically, the Principles of the
Monarchy ; Rights of the Nation ; rights of the King ; rights of the
Citizens ; organization and rights of the National Assembly ; forms
necessary for the enactment of Laws ; organization and functions
of the Provincial and Municipal Assemblies ; duties and limits of
the Judiciary power ; functions and duties of the Military power.
A Declaration of the Rights of Man, as the preliminary of their
work, was accordingly prepared and proposed by the Marquis de
La Fayette.
But the quiet of their march was soon disturbed by information
that troops, and particularly the foreign troops, were advancing on
Paris from various quarters. The King had probably been ad-
vised to this, on the pretext of preserving peace in Paris. But
his advisers were believed to have other things in contemplation.
The Marshal de Broglio was appointed to their command, a high-
flying aristocrat, cool and capable of everything. Some of the
French guards were soon arrested, under other pretexts, but really,
on account of their dispositions in favor of the National cause.
The people of Paris forced their prison, liberated them, and sent
a deputation to the Assembly to solicit a pardon. The Assembly
recommended peace and order to the people of Paris, the prison-
ers to the King, and asked from him the removal of the troops.
His answer was negative and dry, saying they might remove them-
selves, if they pleased, to Noyons or Soissons. In the meantime,
these troops, to the number of twenty or thirty thousand, had ar-
rived, and were posted in, and between Paris and Versailles. The
bridges and passes were guarded. At three o'clock in the after-
noon of the llth of July, the Count de La Luzerne was sent to notify
M. Necker of his dismission, and to enjoin him to retire instantly,
without saying a word of it to anybody. He went home, dined,
and proposed to his wife a visit to a friend, but went in fact to his
country house at St. Ouen, and at midnight set out frr Brussels.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 97
This was not known till the next day (the 12th,) when the whole
Ministry was changed, except Villedeuil, of the domestic depart-
ment, and Barenton, Garde des sceaux. The changes were as
follows :
The Baron de Breteuil, President of the Council of Finance ;
de la Galaisiere, Comptroller General, in the room of M. Necker ;
the Marshal de Broglio, Minister of War, and Foulon under him,
in the room of Puy-Segur ; the Duke de la Vauguyon, Minister
of Foreign Affairs, instead of the Count de Montmorin ; de La
Porte, Minister of Marine, in place of the Count de La Luzerne ;
St. Priest was also removed from the Council. Luzerne and
Puy-Segur had been strongly of the Aristocratic party in the
Council, hut they were not considered equal to the work now to
be done. The King was now completely in the hands of men,
the principal among whom had been noted, through their lives,
for the Turkish despotism of their characters, and who were as-
sociated around the King, as proper instruments for what was to
be executed. The news of this change began to be known at
Paris, about one or two o'clock. In the afternoon, a body of
about one hundred German cavalry were advanced, and drawn up
in the Place Louis XV., and about two hundred Swiss posted at
a little distance in their rear. This drew people to the spot, who
thus accidentally found themselves in front of the troops, merely
at first as spectators ; but, as their numbers increased, their indig-
nation rose. They retired a few steps, and posted themselves on
and behind large piles of stones, large and small, collected in that
place for a bridge, which was to be built adjacent to it. In this
position, happening to be in my carriage on a visit, I passed through
the lane they had formed, without interruption. But the moment
after I had passed, the people attacked the cavalry with stones.
They charged, but the advantageous position of the people, and
the showers of stones, obliged the horse to retire, and quit the
field altogether, leaving one of their number on the ground, and
the Swiss in the rear not moving to their aid. This was the signal
for universal insurrection, arid this body of cavalry, to avoid being
massacred, retired towards Versailles. The people now armed
VOL. i. 7
98 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
themselves with such weapons as they could find in armorer's
shops, and private houses, and with bludgeons ; and were roaming
all night, through all parts of the city, without any decided object.
The next day (the 13th,) the Assembly pressed on the King to
send away the troops, to permit the Bourgeoisie of Paris to arm for
the preservation of order in the city, and offered to send a depu-
tation from their body to tranquillize them ; but their propositions
were refused. A committee of magistrates and electors of the
city were appointed by those bodies, to take upon them its govern-
ment. The people, now openly joined by the French guards, forced
the prison of St. Lazare, released all the prisoners, and took a great
store of corn, which they carried to the corn-market. Here they
got some arms, and the French guards began to form and train
them. The city-committee determined to raise forty-eight thou-
sand Bourgeoise, or rather to restrain their numbers to forty-eight
thousand. On the 14th, they sent one of their members (Mon-
sieur de Corny) to the Hotel des Invalides, to ask arms for their
Garde Bourgeoise. He was followed by, and he found there, a
great collection of people. The Governor of the Invalids came
out, and represented the impossibility of his delivering arms, with-
out the orders of those from whom he received them. De Corny
advised the people then to retire, and retired himself; but the
people took possession of the arms. It was remarkable, that not
only the Invalids themselves made no opposition, but that a body
of five thousand foreign troops, within four hundred yards, never
stirred. M. de Corny, and five others, were then sent to ask arms
of M. de Launay, Governor of the Bastile. They found a great
collection of people already before the place, and they immedi-
ately planted a flag of truce, which was answered by a like flag
hoisted on the parapet. The deputation prevailed on the people to
fall back a little, advanced themselves to make their demand of the
Governor, and in that instant, a discharge from the Bastile killed
four persons of those nearest to the deputies. The deputies retired.
I happened to be at the house of M. de Corny, when he returned
to it, and received from him a narrative of these transactions. On
the retirement of the deputies, the people rushed forward, and
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 99
almost in an instant, were in possession of a fortification of infinite
strength, defended by one hundred men, which in other times had
stood several regular sieges, and had never been taken. How
they forced their entrance has never been explained. They took
all the arms, discharged the prisoners, and such of the garrison as
were not killed in the first moment of fury ; carried the Governor
and Lieutenant Governor, to the Place de Greve, (the place of
public execution,) cut off their heads, and sent them through the
city, in triumph, to the Palais royal. About the same instant, a
treacherous correspondence having been discovered in M. de
Flesselles, Prevot des Marchands, they seized him in the Hotel de
Ville, where he was in the execution of his office, and cut off
his head. These events, carried imperfectly to Versailles, were
the subject of two successive deputations from the Assembly to
the King, to both of which he gave dry and hard answers ; for
nobody had as yet been permitted to inform him, truly and fully,
of what had passed at Paris. But at night, the Duke de Lian-
court forced his way into the King's bed chamber, and obliged
him to hear a full and animated detail of the disasters of the day
in Paris. He went to bed fearfully impressed. The decapi-
tation of de Launay worked powerfully through the night on the
whole Aristocratic party ; insomuch, that in the morning, those
of the greatest influence on the Count d'Artois, represented to him
the absolute necessity that the King should give up everything to
the Assembly. This according with the dispositions of the King,
he went about eleven o'clock, accompanied only by his brothers,
to the Assembly, and there read to them a speech, in which he
asked their interposition to re-establish order. Although couched
in terms of some caution, yet the manner in which it was delivered,
made it evident that it was meant as a surrender at discretion. He
returned to the Chateau a foot, accompanied by the Assembly.
They sent off a deputation to quiet Paris, at the head of which was
the Marquis de La Fayette, who had, the same morning, been
named Commandant en chef of the Milice Bourgeoise ; and Mon-
sieur Bailly, former President of the States General, was called for
as Prevot des Marchands. The demolition of the Bastile was now
100 JEFFERSON'S WOEKS.
ordered and begun. A body of the Swiss guards, of the regi-
ment of Ventimille, and the city horse guards joined the people.
The alarm at Versailles increased. The foreign troops were or-
dered off instantly. Every Minister resigned. The King con-
firmed Bailly as Prevot des Marchands, wrote to M. Necker, to
recall him, sent his letter open to the Assembly, to be forwarded
by them, and invited them to go with him to Paris the next day,
to satisfy the city of his dispositions ; and that night, and the next
morning, the Count d'Artois, and M. de Montesson, a deputy con-
nected with him, Madame de Polignac, Madame de Guiche, and
the Count de Vaudreuil, favorites of the Queen, the Abbe de Ver-
mont her confessor, the Prince of Conde, and Duke of Bourbon fled.
The King came to Paris, leaving the dueen in consternation for
his return. Omitting the less important figures of the procession,
the King's carriage was in the centre ; on each side of it, the As-
sembly, in two ranks a foot ; at their head the Marquis de La Fayette,
as Commander-in-chief, on horseback, and Bourgeois guards be-
fore and behind. About sixty thousand citizens, of all forms and
conditions, armed with the conquests of the Bastile and Invalids,
as far as they would go, the rest with pistols, swords, pikes, prim-
ing-hooks, scythes, &c., lined all the streets through which the
procession passed, and with the crowds of people in the streets,
doors, and windows, saluted them everywhere with the cries of
" vive la nation," but not a single " vive le Roi" was heard. The
King stopped at the Hotel de Ville. There M. Bailly presented,
and put into his hat, the popular cockade, and addressed him.
The King being unprepared, and unable to answer, Bailly went
to him, gathered from him some scraps of sentences, and made
out an answer, which he delivered to the audience, as from the
King. On their return, the popular cries were " vive le Roi et la
nation." He was conducted by a garde Bourgeoise to his palace
at Versailles, and thus concluded an " amende honorable," as no
sovereign ever made, and no people ever received.
And here, again, was lost another precious occasion of sparing
to France the crimes and cruelties through which she has since
passed, and to Europe, and finally America, the evils which
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. ,101
flowed on them also from this mortal source. The King was
now become a passive machine in the hands of the National C
Assembly, and had he been left to himself, he would have
willingly acquiesced in whatever they should devise as best for
the nation. A wise constitution would have been formed, hered-
itary in his line, himself placed at its head, with powers so
large as to enable him to do all the good of his station, and so
limited, as to restrain him from its abuse. This he would have
faithfully administered, and more than this, I do not believe, he
ever wished. But- he had a Queen of absolute sway over his
weak mind and timid virtue, and of a character the reverse of
his in all points. This angel, as gaudily painted in the rhapso-
dies of Burke, with some smartness of fancy, but no sound sense,
was proud, disdainful of restraint, indignant at all obstacles to
her will, eager in the pursuit of pleasure, and firm enough to hold
to her desires, or perish in their wreck. Her inordinate gambling
and dissipations, with those of the Count d'Artois, and others of
her clique, had been a sensible item in the exhaustion of the
treasury, which called into action the reforming hand of the na-
tion ; and her opposition to it, her inflexible perverseness, and
dauntless spirit, led herself to the Guillotine, drew the King on
with her, and plunged the world into crimes and calamities which
will forever stain the pages of modern history. I have ever be-
lieved, that had there been no Queen, there would have been no
revolution. No force would have been provoked, nor exercised.
The King would have gone hand in hand with the wisdom of
his sounder counsellors, who, guided by the increased lights of
the age, wished only, with the same pace, to advance the princi- 7
pies of their social constitution. The deed which closed the
mortal course of these sovereigns, I shall neither approve nor con-
demn. I am not prepared to say, that the first magistrate of a
nation cannot commit treason against his country, or is unamena-
ble to its punishment ; nor yet, that where there is no written
law, no regulated tribunal, there is not a law in our hearts, and a '
power in our hands, given for righteous employment in maintain-
ing right, and redressing wrong. Of those who judged the King,
102 JEFFERSON'S WOKKS.
many thought him wilfully criminal ; many, that his existence
would keep the nation in perpetual conflict with the horde of
Kings who would war against a generation which might come
home to themselves, and that it were better that one should die
than all. I should not have voted with this portion of the legis-
ture. I should have shut up the Queen, in a convent, putting
harm out of her power, and placed the King in his station, in-
vesting him with limited powers, which, I verily believe, he
would have honestly exercised, according to the measure of his
understanding. In this way, no void would have been created,
courting the usurpation of a military adventurer, nor occasion
given for those enormities which demoralized the nations of the
world, and destroyed, and is yet to destroy, millions and millions
of its inhabitants. There are three epochs in history, signalized
by the total extinction of national morality. The first was of
the successors of Alexander, not omitting himself: The next,
the successors of the first Caesar : The third, our own age. This
was begun by the partition of Poland, followed by that of the
treaty of Pilnitz ; next the conflagration of Copenhagen ; then
the enormities of Bonaparte, partitioning the earth at his will, and
devastating it with fire and sword ; now the conspiracy of Kings,
the successors of Bonaparte, blasphemously calling themselves
the Holy Alliance, and treading in the footsteps of their incarcer-
ated leader ; not yet, indeed, usurping the government of other
nations, avowedly and in detail, but controlling by their armies
the forms in which they will permit them to be governed ; and
reserving, in petto, the order and extent of the usurpations
further meditated. Bat I will return from a digression, antici-
pated, too, in time, into which I have been led by reflection on
, the criminal passions which refused to the world a favorable oc-
casion of saving it from the afflictions it has since sutfered.
M. Necker had reached Basle before he was overtaken by
the letter of the King, inviting him back to resume the office
he had recently left. He returned immediately, and all the
other Ministers having resigned, a new administration was
named, to wit : St. Priest arid Montmorin were restored ; the
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 103
Archbishop of Bordeaux was appointed Garde des sceaux, La
Tour du Pin, Minister of War ; La Luzerne, Minister of Marine.
This last was believed to have been effected by the friendship
of Montmorin ; for although differing in politics, they continued
firm in friendship, and Luzerne, although not an able man, was
thought an honest one. And the Prince of Bauvau was taken
into the Council.
Seven Princes of the blood Royal, six ex-Ministers, and many
of the high Noblesse, having fled, and the present Ministers,
except Luzerne, being all of the popular party, all the functiona-
ries of government moved, for the present, in perfect harmony.
In the evening of August the 4th, and on the motion of the
Viscount de Noailles, brother in law of La Fayette, the Assem-
bly abolished all titles of rank, all the abusive privileges of feu-
dalism, the tithes and casuals of the Clergy, all Provincial
privileges, and, in fine, the Feudal regimen generally. To the
suppression of tithes, the Abbe Sieves was vehemently oppos-
ed ; but his learned and logical arguments were unheeded, and
his estimation lessened by a contrast of his egoism (for he was
beneficed on them), with the generous abandonment of rights
by the other members of the Assembly. Many days were em-
ployed in putting into the form of laws, the numerous demoli-
tions of ancient abuses ; which done, they proceeded to the
preliminary work of a Declaration of rights. There being
much concord of sentiment on the elements of this instrument,
it was liberally framed, and passed with a very general appro-
bation. They then appointed a Committee for the " reduction
of a projet" of a constitution, at the head of which was the
Archbishop of Bordeaux. I received from him, as chairman of
the Committee, a letter of July 20th, requesting me to attend
and assist at their deliberations ; but I excused myself, on the
obvious considerations, that my mission was to the King as
Chief Magistrate of the nation, that my duties were limited to
the concerns of my own country, and forbade me to intermed-
dle with the internal transactions of that, in which I had been
received under a specific character only. Their plan of a con-
104 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
stitution was discussed in sections, and so reported from time
to time, as agreed to by the Committee. The first respected
the general frame of the government ; and that this should be
formed into three departments, Executive, Legislative and Ju-
diciary, was generally agreed. But when they proceeded to
subordinate developments, many and Various shades of opinion
came into conflict, and schism, strongly marked, broke the Pa-
triots into fragments of very discordant principles. The first
question, Whether there should be a King ? met with no open
opposition ; and it was readily agreed, that the government of
France should be monarchical and hereditary. Shall the King
have a negative on the laws ? shall that negative be absolute,
or suspensive only ? Shall there be two Chambers of Legisla-
tion ? or one only ? If two, shall one of them be hereditary ?
or for life ? or for a fixed term ? and named by the King ? or
elected by the people ? These questions found strong differ-
ences of opinion, and produced repulsive combinations among
the Patriots. The Aristocracy was cemented by a common
principle, of preserving the ancient regime, or whatever should
be nearest to it. Making this their polar star, they moved in
phalanx, gave preponderance on every question to the minorities
of the Patriots, and always to those who advocated the least
change. The features of the new constitution were thus as-
suming a fearful aspect, and great alarm was produced among
the honest Patriots by these dissensions in their ranks. In this
uneasy state of things, I received one day a note from the Mar-
quis de La Fayette, informing me that he should bring a party
of six or eight friends to ask a dinner of me the next day. I
assured him of their welcome. When they arrived, they were
La Fayette himself, Duport, Barnave, Alexander la Meth,
Blacon, Mounier, Maubourg, and Dagout. These were leading
Patriots, of honest but differing opinions, sensible of the neces-
sity of effecting a coalition by mutual sacrifices, knowing each
other, and not afraid, therefore, to unbosom themselves mutu-
ally. This last was a material principle in the selection. With
this view, the Marquis had in /ited the conference, and had fixed
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 105
the time and place inadvertently, as to the embarrassment under
which it might place me. The cloth being removed, and wine
set on the table, after the American manner, the Marquis intro-
duced the objects of the conference, by summarily reminding
them of the state of things in the Assembly, the course which
the principles of the Constitution were taking, and the inevita-
ble result, unless checked by more concord among the Patriots
themselves. He observed, that although he also had his
opinion, he was ready to sacrifice it to that of his brethren of
the same cause ; but that a common opinion must now be
formed, or the Aristocracy would carry everything, and that,
whatever they should now agree on, he, at the head of the Na-
tional force, would maintain. The discussions began at the
hour of four, and were continued till ten o'clock in the even-
ing ; during which time, I was a silent witness to a coolness
and candor of argument, unusual in the conflicts of political
opinion ; to a logical reasoning, and chaste eloquence, disfigured
by no gaudy tinsel of rhetoric or declamation, and truly worthy
of being placed in parallel with the finest dialogues of antiquity,
as handed to us by Xenophon, by Plato and Cicero. The re-
sult was, that the King should have a suspensive veto on the
laws, that the legislature should be composed of a single body
only, and that to be chosen by the people. This Concordate
decided the fate of the constitution. The Patriots all rallied to
the principles thus settled, carried every question agreeably to
them, and reduced the Aristocracy to insignificance and impo-
tence. But duties of exculpation were now incumbent on me.
I waited on Count Montmorin the next morning, and explained
to him, with truth and candor, how it had happened that my
house had been made the scene of conferences of such a char-
acter. He told me, he already knew everything which had
passed, that so far from taking umbrage at the use made of my
house on that occasion, he earnestly wished I would habitually
assist at such conferences, being sure I should be useful in
moderating the warmer spirits, and promoting a wholesome and
practicable reformation only. I told him, I knew too well the
106 JEFFEBSON'S WOEKS.
duties I owed to the King, to the nation, and to my own coun-
try, to take any part in councils concerning their internal gov-
ernment, and that I should persevere, with care, in the charac-
ter of a neutral and passive spectator, with wishes only, and
very sincere ones, that those measures might prevail which
would be for the greatest good of the nation. I have no doubts,
indeed, that this conference was previously known and ap-
proved by this honest Minister, who was in confidence and
communication with the Patriots, and wished for a reasonable
reform of the Constitution.
Here I discontinue my relation of the French Revolution.
The minuteness with which I have so far given its details, is
disproportioned to the general scale of my narrative. But I
have thought it justified by the interest which the whole world
must take in this Revolution. As yet, we are but in the first
chapter of its history. The appeal to the rights of man, which
had been made in the United States, was taken up by France,
first of the European nations. From her, the spirit has spread
over those of the South. The tyrants of the North have allied
indeed against it; but it is irresistible. Their opposition will
only multiply its millions of human victims ; their own satellites
will catch it, and the condition of man through the civilized
world, will be finally and greatly ameliorated. This is a won-
derful instance of great events from small causes. So inscru-
table is the arrangement of causes and consequences in this
world, that a two-penny duty on tea, unjustly imposed in a se-
questered part of it, changes the condition of all its inhabitants.
I have been more minute in relating the early transactions of
this regeneration, because I was in circumstances peculiarly
favorable for a knowledge of the truth. Possessing the con-
fidence and intimacy of the leading Patriots, and more than all,
of the Marquis Fayette, their head and Atlas, who had no secrets
from me, I learned with correctness the views and proceedings
of that party ; while my intercourse with the diplomatic mis-
sionaries of Europe at Paris, all of them with the court, and
eager in prying into its councils and proceedings, gave rne a
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 107
knowledge of these also. My information was always, and im-
mediately committed to writing, in letters to Mr. Jay, and often
to my friends, and a recurrence to these letters now insures me
against errors of memory.
.. These opportunities of information ceased at this period, with
my retirement from this interesting scene of action. I had been
more than a year soliciting leave to go home, with a view to
place my daughters in the society and care of their friends, and
to return for a short time to my station at Paris. But the meta-
morphosis through which our government was then passing from
its Chrysalid to its Organic form suspended its action in a great
degree ; and it was not till the last of August, that I received the
permission I had asked. And here, I cannot leave this great
and good country, without expressing my sense of its pre-emi-
nence of character among the nations of the earth. A more
benevolent people I have never known, nor greater warmth and
devotedness in their select friendships. Their kindness and ac-
commodation to strangers is unparalleled, and the hospitality of
Paris is beyond anything I had conceived to be practicable in
a large city. Their eminence, too, in science, the communica-
tive dispositions of their scientific men, the politeness of the
general manners, the ease and vivacity of their conversation,
give a charm to their society, to be found nowhere else. In a
comparison of this, with other countries, we have the proof of
primacy, which was given to Themistocles, after the battle of
Salamis. Every general voted to himself the first reward of
valor, and the second to Themistocles. So, ask the travelled
inhabitant of any nation, in what country on earth would you
rather live ? Certainly, in my own, where are all my friends,
my relations, and the earliest and sweetest affections and recol-
lections of my life. Which would be your second choice ?
France.
On the 26th of September I left Paris for Havre, where I
was detained by contrary winds until the 8th of October. On
that clay, and the 9th, I crossed over to Cowes, where I had en-
gaged the Clermont, Capt. Colley, to touch for me. She did so ;
\t)8 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
but here again we were detained by contrary winds, until the
22d, when we embarked, and landed at Norfolk on the 23d
of November. On my way home, I passed some days at Ep-
pington, in Chesterfield, the residence of my friend and connec-
tion, Mr. Eppes ; and, while there, I received a letter from the
President, General Washington, by express, covering an appoint-
ment to be Secretary of State.* I received it with real regret.
My wish had been to return to Paris, where I had left my
household establishment, as if there myself, and to see the end
of the Revolution, which I then thought would be certainly and
happily closed in less than a year. I then meant to return home,
to withdraw from political life, into which I had been impressed
by the circumstances of the times, to sink into the bosom of my
family and friends, and devote myself to studies more congenial
to my mind. In my answer of December 15th, I expressed
these dispositions candidly to the President, and my preference
of a return to Paris ; but assured him, that if it was believed I
could be more useful in the administration of the government, I
would sacrifice my own inclinations without hesitation, and re-
pair to that destination; this I left to his decision. I arrived at
Monticello on the 23d of December, where I received a second
letter from the President, expressing his continued wish that I
should take my station there, but leaving me still at liberty to
continue in my former office, if I could not reconcile myself to
that now proposed. This silenced my reluctance, and I accept-
ed the new appointment.
In the interval of my stay at home, my eldest daughter had
been happily married to the eldest son of the Tuckahoe branch
of Randolphs, a young gentleman of genius, science, and honor-
able mind, who afterwards filled a dignified station in the Gene-
ral Government, and the most dignified in his own State. I left
Monticeilo on the first of March, 1790, for New York. At Phila-
delphia I called on the venerable and beloved Franklin. He
was then on the bed of sickness from which he never rose. My
recent return from a country in which he had left so many
[* See Appendix, note H]
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 109
friends, and the perilous convulsions to which they had been ex-
posed, revived all his anxieties to know what part they had
taken, what had been their course, and what their fate. He
went over all in succession, with a rapidity and animation al-
most too much for his strength. When all his inquiries were
satisfied, and a pause took place, I told him I had learned with
much pleasure that, since his return to America, he had been oc-
cupied in preparing for the world the history of his own life.
I cannot say much of that, said he ; but I will give you a sample
of what I shall leave ; and he directed his little grandson (Wil-
liam Bachc) who was standing by the bedside, to hand him a
paper from the table, to which he pointed. He did so ; and the
Doctor putting it into my hands, desired me to take it and read
it at my leisure. It was about a quire of folio paper, written in
a large and running hand, very like his own. I looked into it
slightly, then shut it, and said I would accept his permission to
read it, and would carefully return it. He said, " no, keep it."
Not certain of his meaning, I again looked into it, folded it for
my pocket, and said again, I would certainly return it. " No,"
said he, " keep it." I put it into my pocket, and shortly after
took leave of him. He died on the 17th of the ensuing month
of April ; and as I understood that he had bequeathed all his
papers to his grandson, William Temple Franklin, I immediately
wrote to Mr. Franklin, to inform him I possessed this paper,
which I should consider as his property, and would deliver to
his order. He came on immediately to New York, called on
me for it, and I delivered it to him. As he put it into his
pocket, he said carelessly, he had either the original, or another
copy of it, I do not recollect which. This last expression struck
my attention forcibly, and for the first time suggested to me the
thought that Dr. Franklin had meant it as a confidential de-
posit in my hands, and that I had done wrong in parting from
it. I have not yet seen the collection he published of Dr.
Franklin's works, and, therefore, know not if this is among
them. I have been told it is not. It contained a narrative of
the negotiations between Dr. Franklin and the British Ministry,
JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
when he was endeavoring to prevent the contest of arms which
followed. The negotiation was brought ahout by the interven-
tion of Lord Howe and his sister, who, I believe, was called
Lady Howe, but I may misre member her title. Lord Howe
seems to have been friendly to America, and exceedingly anx-
ious to prevent a rupture. His intimacy with Dr. Franklin, and
his position with the Ministry, induced him to undertake a me-
diation between them ; in which his sister seemed to have been
associated. They carried from one to the other, backwards and
forwards, the several propositions and answers which passed, and
seconded with their own intercessions, the importance of mutual
sacrifices, to preserve the peace and connection of the two coun-
tries. I remember that Lord North's answers were dry, un-
yielding, in the spirit of unconditional submission, and betrayed
an absolute indifference to the occurrence of a rupture ; and he
said to the mediators distinctly, at last, that " a rebellion was not
to be deprecated on the part of Great Britain ; that the confisca-
tions it would produce would provide for many of their friends."
This expression was reported by the mediators to Dr. Franklin,
and indicated so cool and calculated a purpose in the Ministry,
as to render compromise hopeless, and the negotiation was dis-
continued. If this is not among the papers published, we ask,
what has become of it ? I delivered it with my own hands,
into those of Temple Franklin. It certainly established views
so atrocious in the British government, that its suppression
would, to them, be worth a great price. But could the grandson
of Dr. Franklin be, in such degree, an accomplice in the parri-
cide of the memory of his immortal grandfather ? The suspen-
sion for more than twenty years of the general publication, be-
queathed and confided to him, produced, for awhile, hard sus-
picions against him ; and if, at last, all are not published, a part
of these suspicions may remain with some.
I arrived at New York on the 21st of March, where Congress
was in session.
APPENDIX.
[NOTE A.]
LETTER TO JOHN SAUNDERSON, ESQ.
Monticello, August 31, 1820.
SIR,
Your letter of the 19th was received in due time, and I wish
it were in my power to furnish you more fully, than in the en-
closed paper, with materials for the hiography of George Wythe ;
but I possess none in writing, am very distant from the place of
his birth and early life, and know not a single person in that
quarter from whom inquiry could be made, with the expectation
of collecting anything material. Add to this, that feeble health
disables me, almost, from writing ; and entirely from the labor
of going into difficult research. I became acquainted with Mr.
Wythe when he was about thirty-five years of age. He directed
my studies in the law, led me into business, and continued, until
death, my most aifectionate friend. A close intimacy with him,
during that period of forty odd years, the most important of his
life, enables me to state its leading facts, which, being of my
own knowledge, I vouch their truth. Of what precedes that
period, I speak from hearsay only, in which there may be error,
but of little account, as the character of the facts will themselves
manifest. In the epoch of his birth, I may err a little, stating
that from the recollection of a particular incident, the date of
which, within a year or two, I do not distinctly remember.
These scanty outlines you will be able, I hope, to fill up from
other information, and they may serve you, sometimes, as land-
marks to distinguish truth from error, in what you hear from
JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
others. The exalted virtue of the man will also be a polar star
to guide you in all matters which may touch that element of his
character. But on that you will receive imputation from no man ;
for, as far as I know, he never had an enemy. Little as I am
able to contribute to the jis; reputation of this excellent man, it
is the act of my life most gratifying to my heart ; and leaves me
only to regret that a waning memory can do no more.
Of Mr. Hancock I can say nothing, having known him only
in the chair of Congress. Having myself been the youngest
man but one in that body, the disparity of age prevented any
particular intimacy. But of him there can be no difficulty in
obtaining full information in the North.
I salute you, Sir, with sentiments of great respect,
TH. JEFFERSON.
NOTES FOR THE BIOGRAPHY OF GEORGE WYTHE.
George Wythe was born about the year 1727, or 1728, of a
respectable family in the County of Elizabeth City, on the shores
of the Chesapeake. He inherited, from his father, a fortune suf-
ficient for independence and ease. He had not the benefit of a
regular education in the schools, but acquired a good one of him-
self, and without assistance ; insomuch, as to become the best
Latin and Greek scholar in the State. It is said, that while read-
ing the Greek Testament, his mother held an English one, to aid
him in rendering the Greek text conformably with that. He also
acquired, by his own reading, a good knowledge of Mathematics,
and of Natural and Moral Philosophy. He engaged in the study
of the law under the direction of a Mr. Lewis, of that profession,
and went early to the bar of the General Court, then occupied
by men of great ability, learning, and dignity in their profession.
He soon became eminent among them, and, in process of time,
the first at the bar, taking into consideration his superior learn-
ing, correct elocution, and logical style of reasoning ; for in plead-
ing he never indulged himself with an useless or declamatory
thought or word j and became as distinguished by correctness
APPENDIX. 113
and purity of conduct in his profession, as he was by his indus-
try and fidelity to those who employed him. He was early
elected to the House of Representatives, then called the House
of Burgesses, and continued in it until the Revolution. On the
first dawn of that, instead of higgling on half-way principles, as
others did who feared to follow their reason, he took his stand
on the solid ground that the only link of political union between
us and Great Britain, was the identity of our Executive ; that
that nation and its Parliament had no more authority over us,
than we had over them, and that we were co-ordinate nations
with Great Britain and Hanover.
In 1774, he was a member of a Committee of the House of
Burgesses, appointed to prepare a Petition to the King, a Memo-
rial to the House of Lords, and a Remonstrance to the House of
Commons, on the subject of the proposed Stamp Act. He was
made draughtsman of the last, and, following his own principles,
he so far overwent the timid hesitations of his colleagues, that
his draught was subjected by them to material modifications ;
and, when the famous Resolutions of Mr. Henry, in 1775, were
proposed, it was not on any difference of principle that they were
opposed by Wythe, Randolph, Pendleton, Nicholas, Bland, and
other worthies, who had long been the habitual leaders of the
House ; but because those papers of the preceding session had
already expressed the same sentiments and assertions of right,
and that an answer to them was yet to be expected.
In August, 1775, he was appointed a member of Congress, and
in 1776, signed the Declaration of Independence, of which he
had, in debate, been an eminent supporter. And subsequently,
in the same year, he was appointed, by the Legislature of Vir-
ginia, one of a Committee to revise the laws of the State, as well
of British as of Colonial enactment, and to prepare bills for re-
enacting them, with such alterations as the change in the form
and principles of the government, and other circumstances, re-
quired ; and of this work, he executed the period commencing
with the revolution in England, and ending with the establish-
ment of the new government here ; excepting the Acts for regu-
VOL. i. 8
114 JEFFERSON'S WOEKS.
lating descents, for religious freedom, and for proportioning crimes
and punishments. In 1777, he was chosen Speaker of the House
of Delegates, being of distinguished learning in Parliamentary
law and proceedings ; and towards the end of the same year, he
was appointed one of the three Chancellors, to whom that de-
partment of the Judiciary was confided, on the first organization
of the new government. On a subsequent change of the form
of that court, he was appointed sole Chancellor, in which office
he continued to act until his death, which happened in June,
1806, about the seventy-eighth or seventy-ninth year of his age.
Mr. Wythe had been twice married : first, I believe, to a daugh-
ter of Mr. Lewis, with whom he had studied law, and afterwards
to a Miss Taliaferro, of a wealthy and respectable family in the
neighborhood of Williamsburg ; by neither of whom did he leave
issue.
No man ever left behind him a character more venerated than
George Wythe. His virtue was of the purest tint ; his integrity
inflexible, and his justice exact ; of warm patriotism, and, de-
voted as he was to liberty, and the natural and equal rights of
man, he might truly be called the Cato of his country, without
the avarice of the Roman ; for a more disinterested person never
lived. Temperance and regularity in all his habits, gave him
general good health, and his unaffected modesty and suavity of
manners endeared him to every one. He was of easy elocution,
his language chaste, methodical in the arrangement of his matter,
learned and logical in the use of it, and of great urbanity in de-
bate ; not quick of apprehension, but, with a little time, profound
in penetration, and sound in conclusion. In his philosophy he
was firm, and neither troubling, nor perhaps trusting, any one
with his religious creed, he left the world to the conclusion, that
that religion must be good which could produce a life of such
exemplary virtue.
His stature was of the middle size, well formed and propor-
tioned, and the features of his face were manly, comely, and en-
gaging. Such was George Wythe, the honor of his own, and
the model of future times.
APPENDIX. 115
[NOTE B.]
LETTER TO SAMUEL A. WELLS, ESQ.
Monticello, May 12, 1819.
SIR,
An absence of some time at an occasional and distant residence,
must apologize for the delay in acknowledging the receipt of your
favor of April 12 ; and, candor obliges me to add, that it has
been somewhat extended by an aversion to writing, as well as to
calls on my memory for facts so much obliterated from it by
time, as to lessen my own confidence in the traces which seem
to remain. One of the inquiries in your letter, however, may be
answered without an appeal to the memory. It is that respect-
ing the question, whether committees of correspondence origin-
ated in Virginia, or Massachusetts ? on which you suppose me to
have claimed it for Virginia ; but certainly I have never made
such a claim. The idea, I suppose, has been taken up from what
is said in Wirt's history of Mr. Henry, page 87, and from an in-
exact attention to its precise terms. It is there said, " this House
(of Burgessses, of Virginia) had the merit of originating that
powerful engine of resistance, corresponding committees between
the legislatures of the different colonies." That the fact, as here
expressed, is true, your letter bears witness, when it says, that
the resolutions of Virginia, for this purpose, were transmitted to
the speakers of the different assemblies, and by that of Massa-
chusetts, was laid, at the next session, before that body, who ap-
pointed a committee for the specified object : adding, " thus, in
Massachusetts, there were two committees of correspondence, one
chosen by the people, the other appointed by the House of As-
sembly ; in the former, Massachusetts preceded Virginia ; in the
latter, Virginia preceded Massachusetts." To the origination of
committees for the interior correspondence between the counties
and towns of a State, I know of no claim on the part of Vir-
ginia ; and certainly none was ever made by myself. I perceive,
however, one error, into which memory had led me. Our com-
JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
mittee for national correspondence, was appointed in March, '73,
and I well remember, that going to Williamsburg, in the month
of June following, Peyton Randolph, our Chairman, told me that
messengers bearing despatches between the two States, had
crossed each other by the way, that of Virginia carrying our pro-
positions for a committee of national correspondence, and that
of Massachusetts, bringing, as my memory suggested, a similar
proposition. But here I must have misremembered ; and the
resolutions brought us from Massachusetts, were probably those
you mention of the town-meeting of Boston, on the motion of
Mr. Samuel Adams, appointing a committee " to state the rights
of the colonists, and of that province in particular, and the in-
fringements of them ; to communicate them to the several towns,
as the sense of the town of Boston, and to request, of each town,
a free communication of its sentiments on the subject." I sup-
pose, therefore, that these resolutions were not received, as you
think, while the House of Burgesses was in session in March,
1773, but a few days after we rose, and were probably what was
sent by the messenger, who crossed ours by the way. They
may, however, have been still different. I must, therefore, have
been mistaken in supposing, and stating to Mr. Wirt, that the
proposition of a committee for national correspondence, was near-
ly simultaneous in Virginia and Massachusetts.
A similar misapprehension of another passage in Mr. Wirt's
book, for which I am also quoted, has produced a similar recla-
mation on the part of Massachusetts, by some of her most dis-
tinguished and estimable citizens. I had been applied to by
Mr. Wirt, for such facts respecting Mr. Henry, as my intimacy
with him, and participation in the transactions of the day, might
have placed within my knowledge. I accordingly committed
them to paper ; and Virginia being the theatre of his action,
was the only subject within my contemplation. While speak-
ing of him, of the resolutions and measures here, in which he
had the acknowledged lead, I used the expression, that " Mr.
Henry certainly gave the first impulse to the ball of revolution."
[Wirt, page 41.] The expression is indeed general, and in all
APPENDIX. 117
its extension, would comprehend all the sister States ; but in-
dulgent construction would restrain it, as was really meant, to
the subject matter under contemplation, which was Virginia
alone ; according to the rule of the lawyers, and a fair canon
of general criticism, that every expression should be construed
secundum subjectam materiam. Where the first attack was
made, there must have been of course, the first act of resist-
ance, and that was in Massachusetts. Our first overt act of
war, was Mr. Henry's embodying a force of militia from seve-
ral counties, regularly armed and organized, marching them in
military array, and making reprisal on the King's treasury at the
seat of government, for the public powder taken away by his
Governor. This was on the last days of April, 1775. Your
formal battle of Lexington, was ten or twelve days before that,
and greatly overshadowed in importance, as it preceded in time,
our little affray, which merely amounted to a levying of arms
against the King ; and very possibly, you had had military af-
frays before the regular battle of Lexington.
These explanations will, I hope, assure you, Sir, that so far
as either facts or opinions have been truly quoted from me, they
have never been meant to intercept the just fame of Massachu-
setts, for the promptitude and perseverance of her early resist-
ance. We willingly cede to her the laud of having been (al-
though not exclusively) "the cradle of sound principles," and,
if some of us believe she has deflected from them in her course,
we retain full confidence in her ultimate return to them.
I will now proceed to your quotation from Mr. Galloway's
statement of what passed in Congress, on their Declaration of
Independence ; in which statement there is not one word of
truth, and where bearing some resemblance to truth, it is an en-
tire perversion of it. I do not charge this on Mr. Galloway
himself ; his desertion having taken place long before these meas-
ures, h* doubtless received his information from some of the
loyal triends whom he left behind him. But as yourself, as
well as others, appear embarrassed by inconsistent accounts of
the proceedings on that memorable occasion, and as those who
118 JEFFEKSON'S WOEKS.
have endeavored to restore the truth, have themselves commit-
ted some errors, I will give you some extracts from a written
document on that subject ; for the truth of which I pledge my-
self to heaven and earth ; having, while the question of Inde-
pendence was under consideration before Congress, taken writ-
ten notes, in my seat, of what was passing, and reduced them
to form on the final conclusion. I have now before me that
paper, from which the following are extracts. " Friday, June
7th, 1776. The delegates from Virginia moved, in obedience
to instructions from their constituents, that the Congress should
declare that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be,
free and independent States ; that they are absolved from all al-
legiance to the British crown, and that all political connection
between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought
to be totally dissolved ; that measures should be immediately
taken for procuring the assistance of foreign powers, and a Con-
federation be formed to bind the colonies more closely together.
The House, being obliged to attend at that time to some other
business, the proposition was referred to the next day, when the
members were ordered to attend punctually at ten o'clock.
Saturday, June 8th. They proceeded to take it into considera-
tion, and referred it to a committee of the whole, into which
they immediately resolved themselves, and passed that day in
debating on the subject.
" It appearing in the course of these debates, that the colonies
of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland
and South Carolina, were not yet matured for falling from the
parent stem, but that they were fast advancing to that state, it
was thought most prudent to wait a while for them, and to post-
pone the final decision to July 1st. But that this might occa-
sion as little delay as possible, a Committee was appointed to
prepare a Declaration of Independence. The Committee were
John Adams, Dr. Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert R. Livings-
ton and myself. This was reported to the House on Friday, the
28th of June, when it was read and ordered to lie on the table.
On Monday, the 1st of July, the House resolved itself into a
APPENDIX. 119
Committee of the whole, and resumed the consideration of the
original motion made by the delegates of Virginia, which, be-
ing again debated through the day, was carried in the affirma-
tive by the votes of New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachu-
setts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, North Caro-
lina and Georgia. South Carolina and Pennsylvania voted
against it. Delaware had but two members present, and they
were divided. The delegates from New York declared they
were for it themselves, and were assured their constituents were
for it ; but that their instructions having been drawn near a
twelvemonth before, when reconciliation was still the general
object, they were enjoined by them, to do nothing which should
impede that object. They, therefore, thought themselves not
justifiable in voting on either side, and asked leave to with-
draw from the question, which was given them. The Com-
mittee rose, and reported their resolutions to the House. Mr.
Rutledge, of South Carolina, then requested the determination
might be put off to the next day, as he believed his colleagues,
though they disapproved of the resolution, would then join in it
for the sake of unanimity. The ultimate question, whether the
House would agree to the resolution of the Committee, was ac-
cordingly postponed to the next day, when it was again moved,
and South Carolina concurred in voting for it. In the mean-
time, a third member had come post from the Delaware coun-
ties, and turned the vote of that colony in favor of the resolu-
tion. Members of a different sentiment attending that morn-
ing from Pennsylvania also, her vote was changed ; so that the
whole twelve colonies, who were authorized to vote at all, gave
their votes for it ; and within a few days [July 9th] the con-
vention of New York approved of it, and this supplied the void
occasioned by the withdrawing of their delegates from the
vote." [Be careful to observe, that this vacillation and vote
were on the original motion of the 7th of June, by the Virginia
delegates, that Congress should declare the colonies independ-
ent.] "Congress proceeded, the same day, to consider the
Declaration of Independence, which had been reported and
120 JEFFERSON'S WOKKS.
laid on the table the Friday preceding, and on Monday, referred
to a Committee of the whole. The pusillanimous idea, that we
had friends in England worth keeping terms with, still haunted
the minds of many. For this reason, those passages which
conveyed censures on the people of England were struck out,
lest they should give them offence. The debates having taken
up the greater parts of the second, third and fourth days of
July, were, in the evening of the last, closed ; the Declaration
was reported by the Committee, agreed to by the House, and
signed by every member present except Mr. Dickinson." So
far my notes.
Governor M'Kean, in his letter to McCorkle of July 16th,
1817, has thrown some lights on the transactions of that day ;
but, trusting to his memory chiefly, at an age when our memo-
ries are not to be trusted, he has confounded two questions,
and ascribed proceedings to one which belonged to the other.
These two questions were, 1st, the Virginia motion of June the
7th, to declare Independence ; and 2d, the actual Declaration, its
matter and form. Thus he states the question on the Declara-
tion itself, as decided on the 1st of July ; but it was the Vir-
ginia motion which was voted on that day in committee of the
whole ; South Carolina, as well as Pennsylvania, then voting
against it. Bat the ultimate decision in the House, on the re-
port of the Committee, being, by request, postponed to the
next morning, all the States voted for it, except New York,
whose vote was delayed for the reason before stated. It was
not till the 2d of July, that the Declaration itself was taken
up ; nor till the 4th, that it was decided, and it was signed by
every member present, except Mr. Dickinson.
The subsequent sign itures of members who were not then
present, and some of tl .m not yet in office, is easily explained,
if we observe who the y were ; to wit, that they were of New
York and Pennsylvania. New York did not sign till the 15th,
because it was not till the 9th (five days after the general sig-
nature), that their Convention authorized them to do so. The
Convention of Pennsylvania, learning that it had been signed
APPENDIX. 121
by a minority only of their delegates, named a new delegation
on the 20th, leaving out Mr. Dickinson, who had refused to
sign, Willing and Humphreys who had withdrawn, re-appoint-
ing the three members who had signed, Morris, who had not
been present, and five new ones, to wit, Rush, Clymer, Smith,
Taylor and Ross : and Morris, and the five new members were
permitted to sign, because it manifested the assent of their full
delegation, and the express will of their Convention, which
might have been doubted on the former signature of a minority
only. Why the signature of Thornton, of New Hampshire,
was permitted so late as the 4th of November, I cannot now
say ; but undoubtedly for some particular reason, which we
should find to have been good, had it been expressed. These
were the only post-signers, and you see, Sir, that there were
solid reasons for receiving those of New York and Pennsyl-
vania, and that this circumstance in no wise affects the faith
of this Declaratory Charter of our rights, and of the rights
of man.
With a view to correct errors of fact before they become in-
veterate by repetition, I have stated what I find essentially mate-
rial in my papers, but with that brevity, which the labor of writing
constrains me to use.
On the four particular articles of enquiry in your letter, respect-
ing your grandfather, the venerable Samuel Adams, neither me-
mory nor memorandums enable me to give any information. I
can say that he was truly a great man, wise in council, fertile in
resources, immoveable in his purposes, and had, I think, a greater
share than any other member, in advising and directing our meas-
ures, in the Northern war. As a speaker, he could not be com-
pared with his living colleague and namesake, whose deep con-
ceptions, nervous style, and undaunted firmness, made him truly
our bulwark in debate. But Mr. Samuel Adams, although not of
fluent elocution, was so rigorously logical, so clear in his views,
abundant in good sense, and master always of his subject, that he
commanded the most profound attention, whenever he rose in an
assembly, by which the froth of declamation was heard with the
122 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
most sovereign contempt. I sincerely rejoice, that the record of
his worth is to be undertaken by one so much disposed as you
will be, to hand him down fairly to that posterity for whose lib-
erty and happiness he was so zealous a laborer.
With sentiments of sincere veneration for his memory, accept
yourself this tribute to it, with the assurance of my great respect.
P. S. August 6th, 1822. Since the date of this letter, to-wit,
this day, August 6, '22, I have received the new publication of
the Secret Journals of Congress, wherein is stated a resolution of
July 19th, 1T76, that the Declaration passed on the 4th, be fairly
engrossed on parchment, and when engrossed, be signed by every
member ; and another of August 2nd, that being engrossed and
compared at the table, it was signed by the members ; that is to
say, the copy engrossed on parchment (for durability) was signed
by the members, after being compared at the table, with the ori-
ginal one signed on paper as before stated. I add this P. S. to
the copy of my letter to Mr. Wells, to prevent confounding the
signature of the original with that of the copy engrossed on
parchment.
[NOTE C.]
On the instructions given to the first delegation of Virginia to
Congress, in August, 1774.
The Legislature of Virginia happened to be in session, in Wil-
liamsburg, when news was received of the passage, by the British
Parliament, of the Boston Port Bill, which was to take effect on
the first day of June then ensuing. The House of Burgesses,
thereupon, passed a resolution, recommending to their fellow-citi-
zens, that that day should be set apart for fasting and prayer to
the Supreme Being, imploring him to avert the calamities then
threatening us, and to give us one heart and one mind to oppose
every invasion of our liberties. The next day, May the 20th,
APPENDIX. 123
] 774, the Governor dissolved us. We immediately repaired to a
room in the Raleigh tavern, about one hundred paces distant from
the Capitol, formed ourselves into a meeting, Peyton Randolph in
the chair, and came to resolutions, declaring, that an attack on one
colony, to enforce arbitrary acts, ought to be considered as an at-
tack on all, and to be opposed by the united wisdom of all. We,
therefore, appointed a Committee of correspondence, to address
letters to the Speakers of the several Houses of Representatives
of the colonies, proposing the appointment of deputies from each,
to meet annually in a General Congress, to deliberate on their
common interests, and on the measures to be pursued in common.
The members then separated to their several homes, except those
of the Committee, who' met the next day, prepared letters ac-
cording to instructions, and despatched them by messengers ex-
press, to their several destinations. It had been agreed, also, by
the meeting, that the Burgesses, who should be elected under
the writs then issuing, should be requested to meet in Convention,
on a certain day in August, to learn the results of these letters,
and to appoint delegates to a Congress, should that measure be
approved by the other colonies. At the election, the people re-
elected every man of the former Assembly, as a proof of their ap-
probation of what they had done. Before I left home, to attend
the Convention, I prepared what I thought might be given, in
instruction, to the Delegates who should be appointed to attend
the General Congress proposed. They were drawn in haste, with
a number of blanks, with some uncertainties and inaccuracies of
historical facts, which I neglected at the moment, knowing they
could be readily corrected at the meeting. I set out on my jour-
ney, but was taken sick on the road, and was unable to proceed.
I therefore sent on, by express, two copies, one under cover to
Patrick Henry, the other to Peyton Randolph, who I knew would
be in the chair of the Convention. Of the former, no more was
ever heard or known. Mr. Henry probably thought it too bold,
as a first measure, as the majority of the members did. On the
other copy being laid on the table of the Convention, by Peyton
Randolph, as the proposition of a member, who was prevented
124 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
from attendance by sickness on the road, tamer sentiments were
preferred, and, I believe, wisely preferred ; the leap I proposed
being too long, as yet, for the mass of our citizens. The distance
between these, and the instructions actually adopted, is of some
curiosity, however, as it shews the inequality of pace with which
we moved, and the prudence required to keep front and rear to-
gether. My creed had been formed on unsheathing the sword at
Lexington. They printed the paper, however, and gave it the
title of 'A summary view of the rights of British America.' In
this form it got to London, where the opposition took it up, shaped
it to opposition views, and, in that form, it ran rapidly through
several editions.
Mr. Marshall, in his history of General Washington, chapter 3,
speaking of this proposition for Committees of correspondence
and for a General Congress, says, ' this measure had already been
proposed in town meeting, in Boston,' and some pages before, he
had said, that ' at a session of the General Court of Massachusetts,
in September, 1770, that Court, in pursuance of a favorite idea
of uniting all the colonies in one system of measures, elected a
Committee of correspondence, to communicate with such Com-
mittees as might be appointed by the other colonies.' This is an
error. The Committees of correspondence, elected by Massachu-
setts, were expressly for a correspondence among the several towns
of that province only. Besides the text of their proceedings, his
own note X, proves this. The first proposition for a general cor-
respondence between the several states, ancj. for a General Con-
gress, was made by our meeting of May, 1774. Botta, copying
Marshall, has repeated his error, and so it will be handed on from
copyist to copyist, ad iiifinitum. Here follows my proposition,
and the more prudent one which was adopted.
Resolved, That it be an instruction to the said deputies, when
assembled in General Congress, with the deputies from the other
states of British America, to propose to the said Congress, that an
humble and dutiful address be presented to his Majesty, begging
leave to lay before him, as Chief Magistrate of the British empire,
the united complaints of his Majesty's subjects in America ; com-
APPENDIX. 125
plaints which are excited by many unwarrantable encroachments
and usurpations, attempted to be made by the legislature of one
part of the empire, upon the rights which God, and the laws,
have given equally and independently to all. To represent to
his Majesty that these, his States, have often individually made
humble application to his imperial Throne, to obtain, through its
intervention, some redress of their injured rights; to none of
which, was ever even an answer condescended. Humbly to hope
that this, their joint address, penned in the language of truth, and
divested of those expressions of servility, which would persuade
his Majesty that we are asking favors, and not rights, shall obtain
from his Majesty a more respectful acceptance ; and this his Ma-
jesty will think we have reason to expect, when he reflects that
he is no more than the chief officer of the people, appointed by.
the laws, and circumscribed with definite powers, to assist in
working the great machine of government, erected for their use,
and, consequently, subject to their superintendence ; and, in. order
that these, our rights, as well as the invasions of them, may be
laid more fully before his Majesty, to take a view of them, from
the origin and first settlement of these countries.
To remind him that our ancestors, before their emigration to
America, were the free inhabitants of the British dominions in
Europe, and possessed a right, which nature has given to all men,
of departing from the country in which chance, not choice, has
placed them, of going in quest of new habitations, and of there
establishing new societies, under such laws and regulations as, to
them, shall seem most likely to promote public happiness. That
their Saxon ancestors had, under this universal law, in like man-
ner, left their native wilds and woods in the North of Europe, had
possessed themselves of the Island of Britain, then less charged
with inhabitants, and had established there that system of laws
which has so long been the glory and protection of that country.
Nor was ever any claim of superiority or dependence asserted
over them, by that mother country from which they had migra-
ted : and were such a claim made, it is believed his Majesty's
subjects in Great Britain have too firm a feeling of the rights de-
126 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
rived to them from their ancestors, to bow down the sovereignty
of their state before such visionary pretensions. And it is thought
that no circumstance has occurred to distinguish, materially, the
British from the Saxon emigration. America was conquered, and
her settlements made and firmly established, at the expense of in-
dividuals, and not of the British public. Their own blood was spilt
in acquiring lands for their settlement, their own fortunes expended
in making that settlement effectual. For themselves they fought,
for themselves they conquered, and for themselves alone they
have right to hold. No shilling was ever issued from the public
treasures of his Majesty, or his ancestors, for their assistance, till
of very late times, after the colonies had become established on a
firm and permanent footing. That then, indeed, having become
valuable to Great Britain for her commercial purposes, his Parlia-
ment was pleased to lend them assistance against an enemy who
would fain have drawn to herself the benefits of their commerce,
to the great aggrandisement of herself, and danger of Great
Britain. Such assistance, and in such circumstances, they had
often before given to Portugal and other allied states, with whom
they carry on a commercial intercourse. Yet these states never
supposed, that by calling in her aid, they thereby submitted them-
selves to her sovereignty. Had such terms been proposed, they
would have rejected them with disdain, and trusted for better, to
the moderation of their enemies, or to a vigorous exertion of their
own force. We do not, however, mean to underrate those aids,
which, to us, were doubtless valuable, on whatever principles
granted : but we would shew that they cannot give a title to that
authority which the British Parliament would arrogate over us ;
and that may amply be repaid by our giving to the inhabitants
of Great Britain such exclusive privileges in trade as may be ad-
vantageous to them, and, at the same time, not too restrictive to
ourselves. That settlement having been thus effected in the
wilds of America, the emigrants thought proper to adopt that sys-
tem of laws, under which they had hitherto lived in the mother
country, and to continue their union with her, by submitting
themselves to the same common sovereign, who was thereby
APPENDIX. 127
made the central link, connecting the several parts of the empire
thus newly multiplied.
But that not long were they permitted, however far they thought
themselves removed from the hand of oppression, to hold undis-
turbed the rights thus acquired at the hazard of their lives and
loss of their fortunes. A family of Princes was then on the Brit-
ish throne, whose treasonable crimes against their people, brought
on them, afterwards, the exertion of those sacred and sovereign
rights of punishment, reserved in the hands of the people for cases
of extreme necessity, and judged by the constitution unsafe to be
delegated to any other judicature. While every day brought forth
some new and unjustifiable exertion of power over their subjects
on that side of the water, it was not to be expected that those here,
much less able at that time to oppose the designs of despotism,
should be exempted from injury. Accordingly, this country which
had been acquired by the lives, the labors, and fortunes of indi-
vidual adventurers, was by these Princes, several times, parted out
and distributed among the favorites and followers of their for-
tunes ; and, by an assumed right of the Crown alone, were erected
into distinct and independent governments ; a measure, which it is
believed, his Majesty's prudence and understanding would prevent
him from imitating at this day ; as no exercise of such power, of
dividing and dismembering a country, has ever occurred in his
Majesty's realm of England, though now of very ancient stand-
ing ; nor could it be justified or acquiesced under there, or in any
part of his Majesty's empire.
That the exercise of a free trade with all parts of the world,
possessed by the American colonists, as of natural right, and which
no law of their own had taken away or abridged, was next the ob-
ject of unjust encroachment. Some of the colonies having thought
proper to continue the administration of their government in the
name and under the authority of his Majesty, King Charles the
first, whom, notwithstanding his late deposition by the Common-
wealth of England, they continued in the sovereignty of their State,
the Parliament, for the Commonwealth, took the same in high
offence, and assumed upon themselves the power of prohibiting
128 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
their trade with all other parts of the world, except the Island of
Great Britain. This arbitrary act, however, they soon recalled,
and by solemn treaty entered into on the 12th day of March, 1651,
between the said Commonwealth, by their Commissioners, and the
colony of Virginia by their House of Burgesses, it was expressly
stipulated by the eighth article of the said treaty, that they should
have ' free trade as the people of England do enjoy to all places
and with all nations, according to the laws of that Commonwealth.'
But that, upon the restoration of his Majesty, King Charles the
second, their rights of free commerce fell once more a victim to
arbitrary power ; and by several acts of his reign, as well as of
some of his successors, the trade of the colonies was laid under
such restrictions, as show what hopes they might form from the
justice of a British Parliament, were its uncontrolled power ad-
mitted over these States.* History has informed us, that bodies
of men as well as of individuals, are susceptible of the spirit of ty-
ranny. A view of these acts of Parliament for regulation, as it has
been affectedly called, of the American tradp, if all other evidences
were removed out of the case, would undeniably evince the truth
of this observation. Besides the duties they impose on our arti-
cles of export and import, they prohibit our going to any markets
Northward of Cape Finisterra, in the kingdom of Spain, for the
sale of commodities which Great Britain will not take from us, and
for the purchase of others, with which she cannot supply us ; and
that, for no other than the arbitrary purpose of purchasing for
themselves, by a sacrifice of our rights and interests, certain privi-
leges in their commerce with an allied state, who, in confidence,
that their exclusive trade with America will be continued, while
the principles and power of the British Parliament be the same,
have indulged themselves in every exorbitance which their avarice
could dictate or our necessity extort : have raised their commod-
ities called for in America, to the double and treble of what they
sold for, before such exclusive privileges were given them, and of
what better commodities of the same kind would cost us else-
* 12. C. 2. c. 18. 15. C. 2. c. 11. 25. C. 2. c. 7. 7. 8. W. M. c. 22. 11. W. 34
Anne. 6. C. 2. c. 13.
APPENDIX.
where ; and, at the same time, give us much less for what we carry
thither, than might be had at more convenient ports. That these
acts prohibit us from carrying, in quest of other purchasers, the sur-
plus of our tobaccos, remaining after the consumption of Great
Britain is supplied : so that we must leave them with the British
merchant, for whatever he will please to allow us, to be by him
re-shipped to foreign markets, where he will reap the benefits of
making sale of them for full value. That, to heighten still the idea
of Parliamentary justice, and to show with what moderation they
are like to exercise power, where themselves are to feel no part
of its weight, we take leave to mention to his Majesty, certain
other acts of the British Parliament, by which they would prohibit
us from manufacturing, for our own use, the articles we raise on
our own lands, with our own labor. By an act passed in the fifth
year of the reign of his late Majesty, King George the second, an
American subject is forbidden to make a hat for himself, of the
fur which he has taken, perhaps, on his own soil ; an instance of
despotism, to which no parallel can be produced in the most arbi-
trary ages of British history. By one other act, passed in the
twenty-third year of the same reign, the iron which we make, we
are forbidden to manufacture ; and, heavy as that article is, and
necessary in every branch of husbandry, besides commission and
insurance, we are to pay freight for it to Great Britain, and freight
for it back again, for the purpose of supporting, not men, but ma-
chines, in the island of Great Britain. In the same spirit of equal
and impartial legislation, is to be viewed the act of Parliament,
passed in the fifth year of the same reign, by which American
lands are made subject to the demands of British creditors, while
their own lands were still continued unanswerable for their debts ;
from which, one of these conclusions must necessarily follow,
either that justice is not the same thing in America as in Britain,
or else, that the British Parliament pay less regard to it here than
there. But, that we do not point out to his Majesty the injustice
of these acts, with intent to rest on that principle the cause of
their nullity ; but to show that experience confirms the propriety of
those political principles, which exempt us from the jurisdiction
VOL. i. 9
130 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
of the British Parliament. The true ground on which we declare
these acts void, is, that the British Parliament has no right to ex-
ercise authority over us.
That these exercises of usurped power have not been confined
to instances alone, in which themselves were interested ; but they
have also intermeddled with the regulation of the internal affairs
of the colonies. The act of the 9th of Anne for establishing a
post office in America, seems to have had little connection with
British convenience, except that of accommodating his Majesty's
ministers and favorites with the sale of a lucrative and easy office.
That thus have we hastened through the reigns which preceded
his Majesty's, during which the violation of our rights were less
alarming, because repeated at more distant intervals, than that
rapid and bold succession of injuries, which is likely to distinguish
the present from all other periods of American story. Scarcely
have our minds been able to emerge from the astonishment into
which one stroke of Parliamentary thunder has involved us, before
another more heavy and more alarming is fallen on us. Single
acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a
day ; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period,
and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, too
plainly prove a deliberate, systematical plan of reducing us to
slavery.
Act for ^ranting That the act passed in the fourth year of his Ma-
terial n duties. *
jesty's reign, entitled ' an act
stamp act. One other act passed in the fifth year of his reign,
entitled ' an act
Act declaring One other act passed in the sixth year of his reign,
the right of Par- *
liament over the entitled 'ail act
colonies.
Act for granting And one other act passed in the seventh year of
duties on paper, .
tea,& c . his reign, entitled 'an act
Form that connected chain of Parliamentary usur-
pation, which has already been the subject of fre-
quent applications to his Majesty, and the Houses of
Lords and Commons of Great Britain ; and, no an-
swers having yet been condescended to any of these,
APPENDIX. 131
we shall not trouble his Majesty with a repetition of
the matters they contained.
But that one other act passed in the same seventh Act suspending
legislature of
year of his reign, having been a peculiar attempt, New-York,
must ever require peculiar mention. It is entitled
1 an act
One free and independent legislature, hereby takes upon itself
to suspend the powers of another, free and independent as itself.
Thus exhibiting a phenomenon unknown in nature, the creator,
and creature of its own power. Not only the principles of com-
mon sense, but the common feelings of human nature must be
surrendered up, before his Majesty's subjects here, can be persua-
ded to believe, that they hold their political existence at the will
of a British Parliament. Shall these governments be dissolved,
their property annihilated, and their people reduced to a state of
nature, at the imperious breath of a body of men whom they
never saw, in whom they never confided, and over whom they
have no powers of punishment or removal, let their crimes against
the American public be ever so great ? Can any one reason be
assigned, why one hundred and sixty thousand electors in the
island of Great Britain, should give law to four millions in the
States of America, every individual of whom is equal to every
individual of them in virtue, in understanding, and in bodily
strength ? Were this to be admitted, instead of being a free peo-
ple, as we have hitherto supposed, and mean to continue ourselves,
we should suddenly be found the slaves, not of one, but of one
hundred and sixty thousand tyrants ; distinguished, too, from all
others, by this singular circumstance, that they are removed from
the reach of fear, the only restraining motive which may hold
the hand of a tyrant.
That, by ; an act to discontinue in such manner, and for such
time as are therein mentioned, the landing and discharging, lading
or shipping of goods, wares and merchandize, at the town and
within the harbor of Boston, in the province of Massachusetts
bay, in North America,'* which was past at the last session of the
* H. G. 3.
132 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
British Parliament, a large and populous town, whose trade was
their sole subsistence, was deprived of that trade, and involved in
utter ruin. Let us for a while, suppose the question of right sus-
pended, in order to examine this act on principles of justice. An
act of Parliament had been passed, imposing duties on teas, to be
paid in America, against which act the Americans had protested,
as inauthoritative. The East India Company, who till that time,
had never sent a pound of tea to America on their own account,
step forth on that occasion, the asserters of Parliamentary right,
and send hither many ship loads of that obnoxious commodity.
The masters of their several vessels, however, on their arrival in
America, wisely attended to admonition, and returned with their
cargoes. In the province of New-England alone, the remon-
strances of the people were disregarded, and a compliance, after
being many days waited for, was flatly refused. Whether in this,
the master of the vessel was governed by his obstinacy, or his in-
structions, let those who know, say. There are extraordinary
situations which require extraordinary interposition. An exaspe-
rated people, who feel that they possess power, are not easily re-
strained within limits strictly regular. A number of them assem-
bled in the town of Boston, threw the tea into the ocean, and
dispersed without doing any other act of violence. If in this they
did wrong, they were known, and were amenable to the laws of
the land ; against which, it could not be objected, that they had
ever, in any instance, been obstructed or diverted from the regu-
lar course, in favor of popular offenders. They should, therefore,
not have been distrusted on this occasion. But that ill-fated
colony had formerly been bold in their enmities against the House
of Stuart, and were now devcted to ruin, by that unseen hand
which governs the momentous affairs of this great empire. On
the partial representations of a few worthless ministerial depend-
ants, whose constant office it has been to keep that government
embroiled, and who, by their treacheries, hope to obtain the dig-
nity of British knighthood, without calling for a party accused,
without asking a proof, without attempting a distinction between
the guilty and the innocent, the whole of that ancient and
APPENDIX. 133
wealthy town, is in a moment reduced from opulence to beggary.
Men who had spent their lives in extending the British commerce,
who had invested, in that place, the wealth their honest endeav-
ors had merited, found themselves and their families, thrown at
once on the world, for subsistence by its charities. Not the hun-
dredth part of the inhabitants of that town, had been concerned
in the act complained of ; many of them were in Great Britain,
and in other parts beyond sea ; yet all were involved in one in-
discriminate ruin, by a new executive power, unheard of till then,
that of a British Parliament. A property of the value of many
millions of money, was sacrificed to revenge, not repay, the loss
of a few thousands. This is administering justice with a heavy
hand indeed ! And when is this tempest to be arrested in its
course ? Two wharves are to be opened again when his Majesty
shall think proper: the residue, which lined the extensive shores
of the bay of Boston, are forever interdicted the exercise of com-
merce. This little exception seems to have been thrown in for
no other purpose, than that of setting a precedent for investing his
Majesty with legislative powers. If the pulse of his people shall
beat calmly under this experiment, another and another will be
tried, till the measure of despotism be filled up. It would be an
insult on common sense, to pretend that this exception was made,
in order to restore its commerce to that great town. The trade,
which cannot be received at two wharves alone, must of neces-
sity be transferred to some other place ; to which it will soon be
followed by that of the two wharves. Considered in this light,
it would be an insolent and cruel mockery at the annihilation of
the town of Boston. By the act for the suppression of riots
and tumults in the town of Boston,* passed also in the last ses-
sion of Parliament, a murder committed there, is, if the Governor
pleases, to be tried in the court of King's bench, in the island of
Great Britain, by a jury of Middlesex. The witnesses, too, on
receipt of such a sum as the Governor shall think it reasonable
for them to expend, are to enter into recognizance to appear at
the trial. This is, in other words, taxing them to the amount of
* 14. G. 3.
134 JEFFERSON'S WOEKS.
their recognizance ; and that amount may be whatever a Gover-
nor pleases. For who does his Majesty think can be prevailed
on to cross the Atlantic for the sole purpose of bearing evidence
to a fact ? His expenses are to be borne, indeed, as they shall be
estimated by a Governor; but who are to feed the wife and
children whom he leaves behind, and who have had no other
subsistence but his daily labor ? Those epidemical disorders, too,
so terrible in a foreign climate, is the cure of them to be estimated
among the articles of expense, and their danger to be warded off
by the Almighty power of a Parliament? And the wretched
criminal, if he happen to have offended on the American side,
stripped of his privilege of trial by peers of his vicinage, removed
from the place where alone full evidence could be obtained, with-
out money, without counsel, without friends, without exculpatory
proof, is tried before Judges predetermined to condemn. The
cowards who would suffer a countryman to be torn from the
bowels of their society, in order to be thus offered a sacrifice to
Parliamentary tyranny, would merit that everlasting infamy now
fixed on the authors of the act ! A clause, for a similar purpose,
had been introduced into an act passed in the twelfth year of his
Majesty's reign, entitled, ' an act for the better securing and pre-
serving his Majesty's Dock-yards, Magazines, Ships, Ammunition
and Stores ;' against which, as meriting the same censures, the
several colonies have already protested.
That these are the acts of power, assumed by a body of men
foreign to our constitutions, and unacknowledged by our laws ;
against which we do, on behalf of the inhabitants of British
America, enter this, our solemn and determined protest. And we
do earnestly intreat his Majesty, as yet the only mediatory power
between the several States of the British empire, to recommend
to his Parliament of Great Britain, the total revocation of these
acts, which, however nugatory they may be, may yet prove the
cause of further discontents and jealousies among us.
That we next proceed to consider the conduct of his Majesty,
as holding the Executive powers of the laws of these States, and
mark out his deviations from the line of duty. By the Constitu-
APPENDIX. 135
tion of Great Britain, as well as of the several American States,
his Majesty possesses the power of refusing to pass into a law,
any bill which has already passed the other two branches of the
legislature. His Majesty, however, and his ancestors, conscious
of the impropriety of opposing their single opinion to the united
wisdom of two Houses of Parliament, while their proceedings
were unbiassed by interested principles, for several ages past, have
modestly declined the exercise of this power, in that part of his
empire called Great Britain. But, by change of circumstances,
other principles than those of justice simply, have obtained an
influence on their determinations. The addition of new States
to the British empire has produced an addition of new, and,
sometimes, opposite interests. It is now, therefore, the great
office of his Majesty to resume the exercise of his negative
power, and to prevent the passage of laws by any one legislature
of the empire, which might bear injuriously on the rights and in-
terests of another. Yet this will not excuse the wanton exercise
of this power, which we have seen his Majesty practice on the
laws of the American legislature. For the most trifling reasons,
and, sometimes for no conceivable reason at all, his Majesty has
rejected lawsj^f the most salutary tendency. The abolition of
domestic slavery is the great object of desire in those colonies,
where it was, unhappily, introduced in their infant state. But
previous to the enfranchisement of the slaves we have, it is ne-
cessary to exclude all further importations from Africa. Yet our
repeated attempts to effect this, by prohibitions, and by imposing
duties which might amount to a prohibition, having been hitherto
defeated by his Majesty's negative : thus preferring the imme-
diate advantages of a few British cofsairs, to the lasting interests
of the American States, and to the rights of human nature, c
deeply wounded by this infamous practice. Nay, the single in-
terposition of an interested individual against a law was scarcely
ever known to fail of success, though, in the opposite scale, were
placed the interests of a whole country. That this is so shame-
ful an abuse of a power, trusted with his Majesty for other pur-
poses, as if, not reformed, would call for some legal restrictions.
136 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
With equal inattention to the necessities of his people here,
has his Majesty permitted our laws to lie neglected, in England,
for years, neither confirming them by his assent, nor annulling
them hy his negative : so, that such of them as have no sus-
pending clause, we hold on the most precarious of all tenures,
his Majesty's will ; and such of them as suspend themselves till
his Majesty's assent be obtained, we have feared might be called
into existence at some future and distant period, when time and
change of circumstances shall have rendered them destructive
to his people here. And, to render this grievance still more
oppressive, his Majesty, by his instructions, has laid his Gov-
ernors under such restrictions, that they can pass no law, of any
moment, unless it have such suspending clause : so that, how-
ever immediate may be the call for legislative interposition, the
law cannot be executed, till it has twice crossed the Atlantic, by
which time the evil may have spent its whole force.
But in what terms reconcilable to Majesty, and at the same
time to truth, shall we speak of a late instruction to his Majesty's
Governor of the colony of Virginia, by which he is forbidden to
assent to any law for the division of a county, unless the new
county will consent to have no representative in Assembly?
That colony has as yet affixed no boundary to the Westward.
Their Western counties, therefore, are of an indefinite extent.
Some of them are actually seated many hundred miles from their
Eastern limits. Is it possible, then, that his Majesty can have
bestowed a single thought on the situation of those people, who
in order to obtain justice for injuries, however great or small,
must, by the laws of that colony, attend their county court at
such a distance, with all their witnesses, monthly, till their liti-
gation be determined? Or does his Majesty seriously wish,
and publish it to the world, that his subjects should give up the
glorious right of representation, with all the benefits derived from
that, and submit themselves the absolute slaves of his sovereign
will ? Or is it rather meant to confine the legislative body to
their present numbers, that they may be the cheaper bargain,
whenever they shall become worth a purchase ?
APPENDIX. 137
One of the articles of impeachment against Tresilian, and the
other Judges of Westminster Hall, in the reign of Richard the
Second, for which they suffered death, as traitors to their coun-
try, was, that they had advised the King, that he might dissolve
his Parliament at any time ; and succeeding kings have adopted
the opinion of these unjust Judges. Since the establishment,
however, of the British constitution, at the glorious Revolution,
on its free and ancient principles, neither his Majesty, nor his
ancestors, have exercised such a power of dissolution in the
island of Great Britain ;* and when his Majesty was petitioned,
by the united voice of his people there, to dissolve the present
Parliament, who had become obnoxious to them, his Ministers
were heard to declare, in open Parliament, that his Majesty pos-
sessed no such power by the constitution. But how different
their language, and his practice, here ! To declare, as their duty
required, the known rights of their country, to oppose the usurp-
ation of every foreign judicature, to disregard the imperious
mandates of a Minister or Governor, have been the avowed
causes of dissolving Houses of Representatives in America. But
if such powers be really vested in his Majesty, can he suppose
they are there placed to awe the members from such purposes as
these ? When the representative body have lost the confidence
of their constituents, when they have notoriously made sale of
their most valuable rights, when they have assumed to them-
selves powers which the people never put into their hands, then,
indeed, their continuing in office becomes dangerous to the State,
and calls for an exercise of the power of dissolution. Such being
the cause for which the representative body should, and should
not, be dissolved, will it not appear strange, to an unbiassed
observer, that that of Great Britain was not dissolved, while
those of the colonies have repeatedly incurred f hat sentence ?
But your Majesty, or your Governors, have carried this power
* On further inquiry, I find two instances of dissolutions before the Parliament
would, of itself, have been at an end : viz., the Parliament called to meet August 24,
1698, was dissolved by King William, December 19, 1700, and a new one called, to
meet February 6, 1701, which was also dissolved, November 11, 1701, and a new
one met December 30, 1701.
138 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
beyond every limit known or provided for by the laws. Aftei
dissolving one House of Representatives, they have refused to
call another, so that, for a great length of time, the legislature
provided by the laws, has been out of existence. From the na-
ture of things, every society must, at all times, possess within
itself the sovereign powers of legislation. The feelings of hu-
man nature revolt against the supposition of a State so situated,
as that it may not, in any emergency, provide against dangers
which, perhaps, threaten immediate ruin. While those bodies
are in existence to whom the people have delegated the powers
of legislation, they alone possess, and may exercise, those powers.
But when they are dissolved, by the lopping off one or more of
their branches, the power reverts to the people, who may use it
to unlimited extent, either assembling together in person, sending
deputies, or in any other way they may think proper. We for-
bear to trace consequences further ; the dangers are conspicuous
with which this practice is replete.
That we shall, at this time also, take notice of an error in the
nature of our land holdings, which crept in at a very early period
of our settlement. The introduction of the Feudal tenures into
the kingdom of England, though ancient, is well enough under-
stood to set this matter in a proper light. In the earlier ages of
the Saxon settlement, feudal holdings were certainly altogether
unknown, and very few, if any, had been introduced at the time
of the Norman conquest. Our Saxon ancestors held their lands,
as they did their personal property, in absolute dominion, disin-
cumbered with any superior, answering nearly to the nature of
those possessions which the Feudalist term Allodial. William
the Norman, first introduced that system generally. The lands
which had belonged to those who fell in the battle of Hastings,
and in the subsequent insurrections of his reign, formed a consid-
erable proportion of the lands of the whole kingdom. These he
granted out, subject to feudal duties, as did he also those of
a great number of his new subjects, who, by persuasions or
threats, were induced to surrender them for that purpose. But
still, much was left in the hands of his Saxon subjects, held of
APPENDIX. 139
no superior, and not subject to feudal conditions. These,
therefore, by express laws, enacted to render uniform the sys-
tem of military defence, were made liable to the same military
duties as if they had been feuds ; and the Norman lawyers soon
found means to saddle them, also, with the other feudal bur-
thens. But still they had not been surrendered to the King,
they were not derived from his grant, and therefore they were
not holden of him. A general principle was introduced, that
" all lands in England were held either mediately or immedi-
ately of the Crown ;" but this was borrowed from those hold-
ings which were truly feudal, and only applied to others for
the purposes of illustration. Feudal holdings were, therefore,
but exceptions out of the Saxon laws of possession, under
which all lands were held in absolute right. These, therefore,
still form the basis or groundwork of the Common law, to
prevail wheresoever the exceptions have not taken place.
America was not conquered by William the Norman, nor its
lands surrendered to him or any of his successors. Possessions
there are, undoubtedly, of the Allodial nature. Our ancestors,
however, who migrated hither, were laborers, not lawyers.
The fictitious principle, that all lands belong originally to the
King, they were early persuaded to believe real, and accord-
ingly took grants of their own lands from the Crown. And
while the Crown continued to grant for small sums and on
reasonable rents, there was no inducement to arrest the error,
and lay it open to public view. But his Majesty has lately \
taken on him to advance the terms of purchase and of holding, |
to the double of what they were ; by which means, the acqui-
sition of lands being rendered difficult, the population of our
country is likely to be checked. It is time, therefore, for us to \
lay this matter before his Majesty, and to declare, that he has
no right to grant lands of himself. From the nature and pur-
pose of civil institutions, all the lands within the limits, which
any particular party has circumscribed around itself, are assumed
by that society, and subject to their allotment ; this may be
done by themselves assembled collectively, or by their legisla-
140 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
ture, to whom they may have delegated sovereign authority ,
and, if they are allotted in neither of these ways, each indivi-
dual of the society, may appropriate to himself such lands as he
finds vacant, and occupancy will give him title.
That, in order to enforce the arbitrary measures before com-
plained of, his Majesty has, from time to time, sent among us
large bodies of armed forces, not made up of the people here,
nor raised by the authority of our laws. Did his Majesty pos-
sess such a right as this, it might swallow up all our other rights,
whenever he should think proper. But his Majesty has no
right to land a single armed man on our shores ; and those
whom he sends here are liable to our laws, for the suppression
and punishment of riots, routs, and unlawful assemblies, or
are hostile bodies invading us in defiance of law. When, in
the course of the late war, it became expedient that a body of
Hanoverian troops should be brought over for the defence of
Great Britain, his Majesty's grandfather, our late sovereign, did
not pretend to introduce them under any authority he possessed.
.Such a measure would have given just alarm to his subjects of
Great Britain, whose liberties would not be safe if armed men
of another country, and of another spirit, might be brought
into the realm at any time, without the consent of their legisla-
ture. He, therefore, applied to Parliament, who passed an act
for that purpose, limiting the number to be brought in, and the
time they were to continue. In like manner is his Majesty re-
strained in every part of the empire. He possesses indeed the
executive power of the laws in every State ; but they are the
laws of the particular State, which he is to administer within
that State, and not those of any one within the limits of an-
another. Every State must judge for itself, the number of
armed men which they may safely trust among them, of whom
they are to consist, and under what restrictions they are to be
laid. To render these proceedings still more criminal against
our laws, instead of subjecting the military to the civil power,
his majesty has expressly made the civil subordinate to the mili-
tary. But can his Majesty thus put down all law under his
APPENDIX. 141
feet ? Can he erect a power superior to that which erected
himself ? He has done it indeed by force ; but let him remem-
ber that force cannot give right.
That these are our grievances, which we have thus laid be-
fore his Majesty, with that freedom of language and sentiment
which becomes a free people, claiming their rights as derived
from the laws of nature> and not as the gift of their Chief Ma-
gistrate. Let those flatter, who fear : it is not an American
art. To give praise where it is not due might be well from
the venal, but would ill beseem those who are asserting the
rights of human nature. They know, and will, therefore, say,
that Kings are the servants, not the proprietors of the people.
Open your breast, Sire, to liberal and expanded thought. Let
not the name of George the third, be a blot on the page of his-
tory. You are surrounded by British counsellors, but remem-
ber that they are parties. You have no ministers for American
affairs, because you have none taken from among us, nor ame-
nable to the laws on which they are to give you advice. It
behoves you, therefore, to think and to act for yourself and
your people. The great principles of right and wrong are
legible to every reader ; to pursue them, requires not the aid of
many counsellors. The whole art of government consists in
the art of being honest. Only aim to do your duty, and man-
kind will give you credit where you fail. No longer persevere
in sacrificing the rights of one part of the empire to the inor-
dinate desires of another ; but deal out to all, equal and im-
partial right. Let no act be passed by any one legislature,
which may infringe on the rights and liberties of another.
This is the important post in which fortune has placed you,
holding the balance of a great, if a well-poised empire. This,
Sire, is the advice of your great American council, on the ob-
servance of which may perhaps depend your felicity and fu-
ture fame, and the preservation of that harmony which alone
can continue, both to Great Britain and America, the reciprocal
advantages of their connection. It is neither our wish nor our
interest to separate from her. We are willing, on our part, to
142 JEFFERSON'S WOEKS.
sacrifice everything which reason can ask, to the restoration of
that tranquillity for which all must wish. On their part, let them
be ready to establish union on a generous plan. Let them name
their terms, but let them be just. Accept of every commercial
preference it is in our power to give, for such things as we can
raise for their use, or they make for ours. But let them not think
to exclude us from going to other markets to dispose of those
commodities which they cannot use, nor to supply those wants
which they cannot supply. Still less, let it be proposed, that our
properties, within our own territories, shall be taxed or regulated
by any power on earth, but our own. The God who gave us life,
gave us liberty at the same time : the hand of force may destroy,
but cannot disjoin them. This, Sire, is our last, our determined
resolution. And that you will be pleased to interpose, with that
efficacy which your earnest endeavors may insure, to procure
redress of these our great grievances, to quiet the minds of your
subjects in British America against any apprehensions of future
encroachment, to establish fraternal love and harmony through
the whole empire, and that that may continue to the latest ages
of time, is the fervent prayer of all British America.
[NOTE D.]
August, 1774.
Instructions for the Deputies appointed to meet in General
Congress on the part of this Colony.
The unhappy disputes between Great Britain and her Ameri-
can colonies, which began about the third year of the reign of
his present Majesty, and since, continually increasing, have pro-
ceeded to lengths so dangerous and alarming, as to excite just
apprehensions in the minds of his Majesty's faithful subjects of
this colony, that they are in danger of being deprived of their
natural, ancient, constitutional, and chartered rights, have com-
pelled them to take the same into their most serious considera-
tion ; and, being deprived of their usual and accustomed mode of
making known their grievances, have appointed us their represent-
atives to consider what is proper to be done in this dangerous crisis
APPENDIX. 143
of American affairs. It being our opinion that the united wis-
dom of North America should be collected in a General Congress
of all the colonies, we have appointed the Honorable Peyton Ran-
dolph, Richard Henry Lee, George Washington, Patrick Henry,
Richard Bland, Benjamin Harrison, and Edmund Pendleton, Es-
quires, deputies to represent this colony in the said Congress, to
be held at Philadelphia, on the first Monday in September next.
And that they may be the better informed of our sentiments,
touching the conduct we wish them to observe on this import-
ant occasion, we desire that they will express, in the first place,
our faith and true allegiance to his Majesty, King George the
third, our lawful and rightful sovereign ; and that we are deter-
mined, with our lives and fortunes, to support him in the legal
exercise of all his just rights and prerogatives. And, however
misrepresented, we sincerely approve of a constitutional con-
nection with Great Britain, and wish, most ardently, a return
of that intercourse of affection and commercial connection, that
formerly united both countries, which can only be effected by
a removal of those causes of discontent, which have of late un-
happily divided us.
It cannot admit of a doubt, but the British subjects in Amer-
ica are entitled to the same rights and privileges as their fellow
subjects possess in Britain ; and therefore, that the power as-
sumed by the British Parliament to bind America by their
statutes in all cases whatsoever, is unconstitutional, and the
source of these unhappy differences.
The end of government would be defeated by the British
Parliament exercising a power over the lives, the property, and
the liberty of American subjects, who are not, and, from their
local circumstances, cannot be, there represented. Of this
nature, we consider the several acts of Parliament for raising a
revenue in America, for extending the jurisdiction of the courts
of Admiralty, for seizing American subjects, and transporting
them to Britain to be tried for crimes committed in America,
and the several late oppressive acts respecting the town of Bos-
ton, and Province of the Massachusetts Bay.
144 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
The original constitution of the American colonies possess-
ing their assemblies with the sole right of directing their inter-
nal polity, it is absolutely destructive of the end of their insti-
tution, that their legislatures should be suspended, or prevented,
by hasty dissolutions, from exercising their legislative powers.
Wanting the protection of Britain, we have long acquiesced
in their acts of navigation, restrictive of our commerce, which
we consider as an ample recompense for such protection ; but
as those acts derive their efficacy from that foundation alone,
we have reason to expect they will be restrained, so as to pro-
duce the reasonable purposes of Britain, and not injurious to us.
To obtain redress of these grievances, without which the
people of America can neither be safe, free, nor happy, they
are willing to undergo the great inconvenience that will be de-
rived to them, from stopping all imports whatever, from Great
Britain, after the first day of November next, and also to cease
exporting any commodity whatsoever, to the same place, after
the tenth day of August, 1775. The earnest desire we have to
make as quick and full payment as possible of our debts to
Great Britain, and to avoid the heavy injury that would arise to
this country from an earlier adoption of the non-exportation
plan, after the people have already applied so much of their
labor to the perfecting of the present crop, by which means,
they have been prevented from pursuing other methods of
clothing and supporting their families, have rendered it neces-
sary to restrain you in this article of non-exportation ; but it is
our desire, that you cordially co-operate with our sister colonies
in General Congress, in such other just and proper methods as
they, or the majority, shall deem necessary for the accomplish-
ment of these valuable ends.
The proclamation issued by General Gage, in the govern-
ment of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, declaring it
treason for the inhabitants of that province to assemble them-
selves to consider of their grievances, and form associations for
their common conduct on the occasion, and requiring the civil
magistrates and officers to apprehend all such persons, to be
APPENDIX. 145
tried for their supposed offences, is the most alarming process
that ever appeared in a British government ; and the said Gene-
ral Gage hath, thereby, assumed, and taken upon himself,
powers denied by the constitution to our legal sovereign ; that
he, not having condescended to disclose by what authority he
exercises such extensive and unheard of powers, we are at a
loss to determine, whether he intends to justify himself as the
representative of the King, or as the Commander-in-Chief of
his Majesty's forces in America. If he considers himself as acting
in the character of his Majesty's representative, we would remind
him that the statute 25th, Edward the third has expressed and
defined all treasonable offences, and that the legislature of Great
Britain had declared, that no offence shall be construed to be trea-
son, but such as is pointed out by that statute, and that this was
done to take out of the hands of tyrannical Kings, and of weak
and wicked Ministers, that deadly weapon, which constructive
treason had furnished them with, and which had drawn the
blood of the best and honestest men in the kingdom ; and that
the King of Great Britain hath no right by his proclamation,
to subject his people to imprisonment, pains, and penalties.
That if the said General Gage conceives he is empowered to
act in this manner, as the Commander-in-Chief of his Majesty's
forces in America, this odious and illegal proclamation must be
considered as a plain and full declaration, that this despotic Vice-
roy will be bound by no law, nor regard the constitutional rights
of his Majesty's subjects, whenever they interfere with the plan
he has formed for oppressing the good people of the Massachu-
setts Bay ; and, therefore, that the executing, or attempting to
execute, such proclamations, will justify resistance and reprisal.
[NOTE K]
DEAR Sin Monticello, November 1, 1778.
I have got through the bill for " proportioning crimes and pun-
ishments in cases heretofore capital," and now enclose it to you
with a request that you will be so good, as scrupulously to exam-
VOL. I. 10
146 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
ine and correct it, that it may be presented to our committee
with as few defects as possible. In its style, I have aimed at ac-
curacy, brevity, and simplicity, preserving, however, the very
words of the established law, wherever their meaning had been
sanctioned by judicial decisions, or rendered technical by usage.
The same matter, if couched in the modern statutory language,
with all its tautologies, redundancies, and circumlocutions, would
have spread itself over many pages, and been unintelligible to
those whom it most concerns. Indeed, I wished to exhibit a sam-
ple of reformation in the barbarous style into which modern stat-
utes have degenerated from their ancient simplicity. And I must
pray you to be as watchful over what I have not said, as what is
said ; for the omissions of this bill have all their positive mean-
ing. I have thought it better to drop, in silence, the laws we
mean to discontinue, and let them be swept away by the general
negative words of this, than to detail them in clauses of express
repeal. By the side of the text I have written the notes I made,
as I went along, for the benefit of my own memory. They may
serve to draw your attention to questions, to which the express-
ions or the omissions of the text may give rise. The extracts
from the Anglo-Saxon laws, the sources of the Common law, I
wrote in their original, for my own satisfaction ;* but I have
added Latin, or liberal English translations. From the time
of Canute to that of the Magna Charta, you know, the text
of our statutes is preserved to us in Latin only, and some old
French.
I have strictly observed the scale of punishments settled by the
Committee, without being entirely satisfied with it. The Lex
talionis, although a restitution of the Common law, to the sim-
plicity of which we have generally found it so advantageous to
return, will be revolting to the humanized feelings of modern
times. An eye for an eye, and a hand for a hand, will exhibit
spectacles in execution whose moral effect would be question-
able ; and even the membrum pro membra of Bracton, or the
[* In this publication, the original Saxon words are given, but, owing to the
want of Saxon letter, they are printed in common type.]
APPENDIX. 147
punishment of the offending member, although long authorized
by our law, for the same offence in a slave has, you know, been
not long since repealed, in conformity with public sentiment.
This needs reconsideration.
I have heard little of the proceedings of the Assembly, and do
not expect to be with you till about the close of the month. In
the meantime, present me respectfully to Mrs. Wythe, and accept
assurances of the affectionate esteem and respect of, dear Sir,
Your friend and servant.
George Wythe, Esq.
A Bill for proportioning Crimes and Punishments, in cases
heretofore Capital.
Whereas, it frequently happens that wicked and dissolute men,
resigning themselves to the dominion of inordinate passions, com-
mit violations on the lives, liberties, and property of others, and,
the secure enjoyment of these having principally induced men
to enter into society, government would be defective in its prin-
cipal purpose, were it not to restrain such criminal acts, by in-
flicting due punishments on those who perpetrate them ; but it
appears, at the same time, equally deducible from the purposes of
society, that a member thereof, committing an inferior injury, does
not wholly forfeit the protection of his fellow citizens, but, after
suffering a punishment in proportion to his offence, is entitled to
their protection from all greater pain, so that it becomes a duty
in the legislature to arrange, in a proper scale, the crimes which
it may be necessary for them to repress, and to adjust thereto a
corresponding gradation of punishments.
And whereas, the reformation of offenders, though an object
worthy the attention of the laws, is not effected at all by capital
punishments, which exterminate instead of reforming, and should
be the last melancholy resource against those whose existence is
become inconsistent with the safety of their fellow citizens, which
ilso weaken the State, by cutting off so many who, if reformed,
148 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
might be restored sound members to society, who, even under a
course of correction, might be rendered useful in various labors
for the public, and would be living and long-continued spectacles
to deter others from committing the like offences.
And forasmuch as the experience of all ages and countries hath
shown, that cruel and sanguinary laws defeat their own purpose,
by engaging the benevolence of mankind to withhold prosecu-
tions, to smother testimony, or to listen to it with bias, when, if the
punishment were only proportioned to the injury, men would feel
it their inclination, as well as their duty, to see the laws observed.
For rendering crimes and punishments, therefore, more pro-
portionate to each other :
Be it enacted by the General Assembly, that no crime shall be
henceforth punished by the deprivation of life or limb,* except
those hereinafter ordained to be so punished.
f If a man do levy warj against the Commonweath [in the
same], or be adherent to the enemies of the Commonwealth
[within the same], giving to them aid or comfort in the Com-
* This takes away the punishment of cutting off the hand of a person striking an
other, or drawing his sword in one of the superior courts of justice. Stamf. P. C.
38. 33. H. 8. c. 12. In an earlier stage of the Common law, it was death. Gif hwa
gefeohte on Cyniuges huse sy he scyldig ealles his yrfes, and sy on Cyninges dome
hwaether he lif age de nage : si quis in regis domo pugnet, perdat omnem suam haere-
ditatem, et in regis sit arbitrio, possideat vilam an non possideat. LI. Inae. 6. Gif
hwa on Cyninges healle gefeohte, oththe his waepne gebredc, and hine mon gefo, sy
thset on Cyninges dome swa death, swa lif, swa he him forgyfan wille: si quis in aula
regia puguet, vel arma sua extrahat et capiatur, sit in regis arbitrio tarn mors quam
vita, sicut ei condonare voluerit. LI. Alfr. 7. Gif hwa on Cyninges hirede gefeohte
tholige thajt lifes, buton se Cyning him gearian wille : si quia in regia dinu'cat, perdat
vitam, nisi rex hoc illi eondonare velit. LI. Cnuti. 56. 4. 131. 125.
f 25. E. 3. st. 5. c. 2. 7. W. 3. c. 3. 2.
\ Though the crime of an accomplice in treason is not here described, yet, Lord
Coke says, the partaking and maintaining a treason herein described, makes him a
principal in that treason : it being a rule that in treason all are principals. 3 Inst.
138. 2 Inst. 590. 1 H. 6. 5.
These words in the English statute narrow its operation. A man adhering to
the enemies of the Commonwealth, in a foreign country, would certainly not be guilty
of treason with us, if these words be retained. The convictions of treason of that
land in England have been under that branch of the statute \vhich makes the com-
passing the king's death treason. Foster 196. 197. But as we omit that branch, we
must by other means reach this flagrant case.
APPENDIX. 149
monwealth, or elsewhere, and thereof be convicted of open deed,
by the evidence of two sufficient witnesses, or his own voluntary
confession, the said cases, and no* others, shall be adjudged trea-
sons which extend to the Commonwealth, and the person so con-
victed shall suffer death, by hanging,! and shall forfeit his lands
and goods to the Commonwealth.
If any person commit petty treason, or a husband murder his
wife, a parent;}: his child, or a child his parent, he shall suffer
* The stat. 25. E. 3. directs all other cases of treasons to await the opinion of
Parliament. This has the effect of negative words, excluding all other treasons. As
we drop that part of the statute, we must, by negative words, prevent an inundation
of common law treasons. I strike out the word " it," therefore, and insert " the said
cases, and no others." Quaere, how far those negative words may affect the case of
accomplices above mentioned ? Though if their case was within the statute, so as
that it needed not await the opinion of Parliament, it should seem to be also within
our act, so as not to be ousted by the negative words.
f This implies " by the neck." See 2 Hawk. 544. notes n. o.
\ By the stat. 21. Jac. 1. c. 27. and Act Ass. 1170. c. 12. concealment by the mother
of the death of a bastard child is made murder. In justification of this, it is said,
that shame is a feeling which operates so strongly on the mind, as frequently to
induce the mother of such a child to murder it, in order to conceal her disgrace.
The act of concealment, therefore, proves she was influenced by shame, and that in-
fluence produces a presumption that she murdered the child. The effect of this law
then is, to make what, in its nature, is only presumptive evidence of a murder
conclusive of that fact. To this I answer, 1. So many children die before or soon
after birth, that to presume all those murdered who aro found dead, is a presump-
tion which will lead us oftener wrong than right, and consequently would shed more
blood than it would save. 2. If the child were born dead, the mother would
naturally choose rather to conceal it, in hopes of still keeping a good character in
the neighborhood. So that the act of concealment is far from proving the guilt of
murder on the mother. 3. If shame be a powerful affection of the mind, is not pa-
rental love also ? Is it not the strongest affection known ? Is it not greater
than even that of self-preservation ? While we draw presumptions from shame, one
affection of the mind, against the life of the prisoner, should we not give some
weight to presumptions from parental love, an affection at least as strong, in favor
of life ? If concealment of the fact is a presumptive evidence of murder, so strong
as to overbalance all other evidence that may possibly be produced to take away the
presumption, why not trust the force of this incontestable presumption to the jury,
who are, in a regular course, to hear presumptive, as well as positive testimony ?
If the presumption arising from the act of concealment, may be destroyed by proof
positive or circumstantial to the contrary, why should the legislature preclude that
contrary proof? Objection. The crime is difficult to prove, being usually commit-
ted in secret Answer. But circumstantial proof will do; for example, marks of vio-
K-nee, the behavior, countenance, &c. of the prisoner, &c. And if conclusive proof
150 JEFFERSON'S WOEKS.
death by hanging, and his body be delivered to Anatomists ta
be dissected.
Whosoever committeth murder by poisoning shall suffei
death by poison.
Whosoever committeth murder by way of duel shall suffer
death by hanging ; and if he were the challenger, his body,
after death, shall be gibbetted.* He who removeth it from the
gibbet shall be guilty of a misdemeanor ; and the officer shall
see that it be replaced.
Whosoever shall commit murder in any other way shall suf-
fer death by hanging.
And in all cases of Petty treason and murder, one half of the
lands and goods of the offender, shall be forfeited to the next
of kin to the person killed, and the other half descend and go
to his own representatives. Save only, where one shall slay
the challenger in a duel,f in which case, no part of his lands
or goods shall be forfeited to the kindred of the party slain,
but, instead thereof, a moiety shall go to the Commonwealth.
The same evidence J shall suffice, and order and course >, of
be difficult to be obtained, shall we therefore fasten irretrievably upon equivocal
proof? Can we change the nature of what is contestuble, and make it incontest-
able ? Can we make that conclusive which God and nature have made inconclusive?
Solon made no law against parricide, supposing it impossible that any one could be
guilty of it ; and the Persians, from the same opinion, adjudged all who killed their
reputed parents to be bastards ; and although parental be yet stronger than filial
affection, we* admit saticide proved on the most equivocal testimony, whilst they
rejected all proof of an act certainly not more repugnant to nature, as of a thing
impossible, unprovable. See Beccaria, 31.
* 25. G. 2. c. 37.
f Quaere, if the estates of both parties in a duel, should not be forfeited ? The
deceased is equally guilty with a suicide.
\ Quaere, if these words may not be omitted ? By the Common law, one witness
in treason was sufficient. Foster 233. Plowd. 8. a. Mirror c. 3. ty 34. Waterhouse
on Fortesc. de laud. 252. Ctirth. 144. per. Holt. But Lord Coke, contra 3 iust. 26.
The stat. 1. E. 6. c. 12. & 5. E 6. c. 11. first required two witnesses in treason. The
clause against high treason supra, does the same as to high treason ; but it seems if
1st and 5th E. 6. are dropped, Petty treason will be tried and proved, as at Common
law, by one witness. But quaere, Lord Coke being contra, whose opinion it is ever
dangerous to neglect
These words are intended to take away the peremptory challenge of thirty -fiv
APPENDIX. 15]
trial be observed in cases of Petty treason, as in those of other*
murders.
Whosoever shall be guilty of manslaughter,! shall, for the
first offence, be condemned to hard! labor for seven years in
the public works, shall forfeit one half of his lands and goods
to the next of kin to the person slain ; the other half to be
sequestered during such term, in the hands and to the use of
the Commonwealth, allowing a reasonable part of the profits
for the support of his family. The second offence shall be
deemed murder.
And where persons, meaning to commit a trespass^ only, or
larceny, or other unlawful deed, and doing an act from which
involuntary homicide hath ensued, have heretofore been ad-
judged guilty of manslaughter, or of murder, by transferring
such their unlawful intention to an act, much more penal than
they could have in probable contemplation ; no such case shall
hereafter be deemed manslaughter, unless manslaughter was in-
tended, nor murder, unless murder was intended.
jurors. The same words being used 1. 2. Ph. <fc M. c. 10. are deemed to have restored
the peremptory challenge in high treason ; and consequently are sufficient to take it
away. Foster 237.
* Petty treason is considered in law only as an aggravated murder. Foster 107.
323. A pardon of all murders, pardons Petty treason. 1 Hale P. C. 378. see 2 H.
P. C. 340. 342. It is also included iu the word " felony," so that a pardon of all felo-
nies, pardons Petty treason.
f Manslaughter is punishable at law, by burning in the hands, and forfeiture of
chattels.
\ It is best, in this act, to lay down principles only, in order that it may not for-
ever be undergoing change ; and, to carry into effect the minuter parts of it, frame a
bill " for the employment and government of felons, or malefactors, condemned to
labor for the Commonwealth," which may serve as an Appendix to this, and in
which all the particulars requisite may be directed ; and as experience will, from
time to time, be pointing out amendments, these may be made without touching
this fundamental act. See More's Utopia p. 50. for some good hints. Fugitives
might, in such a bill, be obliged to work two days for every one they absent them-
selves.
The shooting at a wild fowl, a.nd killing a man, is homicide by misadventure.
Shooting at a pullet, without any design to take it away, is manslaughter ; and with
a design to take it away, is murder. 6 Sta. tr. 222. To shoot at the poultry of an-
other, and thereby set fire to his house, is arson, iu the opinion of some. Dalt. c. 116.
1. Kale's P. C. 569. c. contra.
152 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
In other cases of homicide, the law will not add to the mise-
ries of the party, by punishments and forfeitures.*
* Beccaria. 82. Suicide. Homicides are, 1. Justifiable. 2. Excusable. 3. Felo-
nious. For the last, punishments have been already provided. The first are held to
be totally without guilt, or rather commendable. The second are in some cases not
quite unblamable. These should subject the party to marks of contrition ; viz., the
killing of a man in defence of property ; so also in defence of one's person, which is
a species of excusable homicide ; because, although cases may happen where these
also are commendable, yet most frequently they are done on too slight appearance
of danger ; as in return for a blow, kick, fillip, ttc.; or on a person's getting into a
house, not animo furandi, but perhaps veneris causa, Ac. Bractou says, " si quis fu-
rem nocturuum Occident, ita demum impune foret, si parcere ei sine periculo suo non
potuit, si autem potuit, aliter erit." Item erit si quis hamsokne quae dicitur invasio
domus contra pacem domini regis in domo sua se defeuderit, et invasor occisus fuerit ;
impersecutus et insultus remanebit, si ille quern invasit aliter se defendere non potuit ;
dicitur euim quod non est diguns habere pacem qui non vult observare earn." L. 3.
c. 23. 3. " Qui latronem Occident, non tenetur, nocturnum vel diurnum, si aliter
periculum evadere non possit ; tenetur tamen si possit. Item non tenetur si per in-
fortunium, et non animo et voluntate occideudi, nee dolus, nee culpa ejus inveniatur."
L. 3. c. 36. 1. The stat. 24. H. 8. c. 5. is therefore merely declaratory of the Com-
mon law. See on the general subject Puffend. 2. 5. 10. 11. 12. 16. 17. Excusable
homicides are by misadventure, or in self-defence. It is the opinion of some lawyers,
that the Common law punished these with death, and that the statute of Marlbridge,
c. 26. and Gloucester, c. 9. first took away this by giving them title to a pardon, as
matter of right, and a writ of restitution of their goods. See 2. Inst. 14S. 315. 3.
Inst. 55. Bracton L. 3. c. 4. 2. Fleta L. 1. c. 23. () 14. 15. 21. E. 3. 23. But it is
believed never to "have been capital. 1. H. P. C. 425. 1 Hawk. 75. Foster, 282.
4. Bl. 188. It seems doubtful also, whether at Common law, the party forfeited all
his chattels in this case, or only paid a weregild. Foster, ubi supra, doubts, and
thinks it of no consequence, as the statute of Gloucester entitles the party to Royal
grace, which goes as well to forfeiture as life. To me there seems no reason for call-
ing these excusable homicides, and the killing a man in defence of property, a justi-
fiable homicide. The latter is less guiltless than misadventure or self-defence.
Suicide is by law punishable by forfeiture of chattels. This bill exempts it from
forfeiture. The suicide injures the State less than he who leaves it with his effects.
If the latter then be not punished, the former should not. As to the example, we
need not fear its influence. Men are too much attached to life, to exhibit frequent
instances of depriving themselves of it. At any rate, the quasi-punishment of con-
fiscation will not prevent it. For if one be found who can calmly determine to re-
nounce life, who is so weary of his existence here, as rather to make experiment of
what is beyond the grave, can we suppose him, in such a state of mind, susceptible
of influence from the losses to his f imily from confiscation ? That men in general,
too, disapprove of this severity, is apparent from the constant practice of juries find-
ing the suicide in a state of insanity ; because they have no other way of saving the
forfeiture. Let it then be done away.
APPENDIX. 153
Whenever sentence of death shall have been pronounced
against any person for treason or murder, execution shall be
done on the next day but one after such sentence, unless it be
Sunday, and then on the Monday following.*
Whosoever shall be guilty of Rape,f Poly gamy, | or Sodomy
* Beccaria. (> 19. 25. G. 2. c. 37.
f 13. E. I.e. 34. Forcible abduction of a woman having substance, is felony by 3.
H. 7. e. 2. 3. Inst. 61. 4. Bl. 208. If goods be taken, it will be felony as to them,
without this statute ; and as to the abduction of the woman, quaere if not better to
leave that, and also kidnapping, 4. Bl. 219. to the Common law remedies, viz., fine,
imprisonment, and pillory, Raym. 474. 2 Show. 221. Skin. 47. Comb. 10. the
writs of Homine replegiando, Capias in Withernam, Habeas corpus, and the action
of trespass ? Rape was felony at the Common law. 3. Inst. 60. but see 2. Inst.
181. further for its definition see 2. Inst. 180. Bracton, L. 3. c. 28. 1. says the
punishment, of rape is " amissio membrorum, ut sit membrum pro membro, quia virgo,
cum corrumpitur, membrum arnittit, et ideo corruptor puniatur in eo in quo deliquit;
oculos igitur amittat propter aspectum decoris quo virgiiiem concupivit ; amittat et
testiculos qui calorem stupri induxerunt. Olim quid*Mii corruptores virginitatis et cas-
titatis suspendebantur et eorum fantores, <fec. Modernis tamen temporibus aliter obser-
vatur," Ac. And Fleta, " solet justiciarius pro quolibet mahemio ad amissionem testicu-
lorum vel oculorum convictum condemnare, sed non sine errore, eo quod id judicium
nisi in corruptione virginum tantum competebat ; nam pro virginitatis corruptione so-
lebantabscidi et mcrito judicari, ut sic pro membro quod abstulit, membrum per quod
deliquit amitteret, viz., testiculos. qui calorem stupri induxerunt," <fcc. Fleta, L. I.e. 40.
$ 4. " Gif theow man theowne to nydhed genyde, gabte mid his eowende :" Si
servus servam ad stuprum coegerit, compenset hoc virga sua virili. Si quis puellam,"
fee. LI. Aelfridi. 25. " Hi purgist femme per forze forfait ad les membres. LI. Gul.
conq. 19. In Dyer, 305, a man was indicted, and found guilty of a rape on a girl of
seven years old. The court " doubted of the rape of so tender a girl ; but if she had
been nine years old, it would have been otherwise." 14. Eliz. Therefore the statute
18. Eliz. c. 6. says, "For plain declaration of law, be it enacted, that if any person
shall unlawfully and carnally know and abuse any woman child, under the age of ten
years, fec., he shall suffer as a felon, without allowance of clergy:' Lord Hale, how-
ever, 1. P. C. 630. thinks it rape independent of that statute, to know carnally, a girl
under twelve, the age of consent. Yet 4. Bl. 212. seems to neglect this opinion ; and
as it was founded on the words of 3. E. 1. c. 13. and this is with us omitted, the offence
of carnally knowing a girl under twelve, or ten years of age, will not be distinguished
from that of any other.
\ 1. JMC. 1 . c. 1 1. Polygamy was not penal till the statute 1. Jac. The law contented
itself with the nullity of the act. 4. Bl. 163. 3. Inst. 88.
25. H. 8. c. 6. Buggery is twofold. 1. With mankind, 2. with beasts. Buggery
is the Genus, of which Sodomy and Bestiality, are the species. 1 2. Co. 37. says, il note
that Sodomy is with mankind." But Finch's L. B. 3. c. 24. " Sodomiary is a carnal cop-
ulation against nature, to wit, of man or woman in the same sex, or of either of them
with beasts." 12. Co. 36. says, " it appears by the ancient authorities of the law that
154 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
with man or woman, shall be punished, if a man, by castra-
tion,* if a woman, by cutting through the cartilage of her nose
a hole of one half inch in diameter at the least.
But no one shall be punished for Polygamy, who shall have
married after probable information of the death of his or her
husband or wife, or after his or her husband or wife, hath ab-
sented him or herself, so that no notice of his or her being alive
hath reached such person for seven years together, or hath suf-
fered the punishments before prescribed for rape, polygamy, or
sodomy.
Whosoever on purpose, and of malice forethought, shall
maimf another, or shall disfigure him, by cutting out or dis-
abling the tongue, slitting or cutting off a nose, lip, or ear, brand-
ing, or otherwise, shall be maimed, or disfigured in likej sort :
this was felony." Yet the 25. H. 8. declares it felony, as if supposed not to be so.
Britton, c. 9. says, that Sodomites are to be burnt. F. N. B. 269. b. Fleta, L. 1. c. 37.
says, " pecorantes et Sodomitae in terra vivi confodiantur." The Mirror makes it trea-
son. Bestiality can never make any progress; it cannot therefore be injurious to so-
ciety in any great degree, which is the true measure of criminality in foro civili, and
will ever be properly and severely punished, by universal derision. It may, therefore,
be omitted. It was anciently punished with death, as it has been latterly. LI. Aelfrid,
31. and 25. H. 8. c. 6. see Beccaria. 31. Montesq.
* Bracton, Fleta, Ac.
f 22. 23. Car. 2. c. 1. Maiming was felony at the Common law Britton, c. 25.
"Mahemium autem dici poteri, aubi aliquis in aliqua parte sui corparis laesionem
acceperit, per quam affectus sit inutilis ad puguandum: ut si manus amputetur, vel
pes, oculus privetur, vel scerda de osse capitis laveter, vel si quis dentes praecisores
amiserit, vel castratus fuerit, et talis pro mahemiato poterit adjudicari." Fleta L.
1. c. 40. "Et volons que uul maheme ne soit tenus forsque de membre toilet dount
home est plus feble a combatre, sicome del oyl. ou de la mayn, ou del pie, ou de la
tete debruse, ou de les dentz devant." Britton, c. 25. For further definitions, see
Bracton, L. 3. c. 24. 3. 4. Finch L. B. 3. c. 1 2. Co L. 1 26. a. b. 288. a. 3. Bl. 121. 4. Bl. 205.
Stamf. P. C. L. 1. c. 41. I do not find any of these definitions confine the offence to wilful
and malicious perpetrations of it. 22. 23. Car. 2. c. 1. called the Coventry act, has the
words " on purpose and of malice forethought." Nor does the Common law prescribe
the same punishment for disfiguring, as for maiming.
\ The punishment was by retaliation. " Et come ascun appele serra de tele lei-
onie atteint et attende jugement, si soit le judgment tiel que il perde autriel membre
come il avera toilet al pleintyfe. Et sy la pleyute soi faite de femme que avera toilet
a home sea membres, en tiel cas perdra la femme la une meyu par jugement, come le
membre dount ele axera trespasse." Brittou, c. 25. Fleta, B. 1. c. 40. LI. Aelfr.
19. 40.
APPENDIX. 155
or if that cannot be, for want of the same part, then as nearly
as may be, in some other part of at least equal value and esti-
mation, in the opinion of a jury, and moreover, shall forfeit one
half of his lands and goods to the sufferer.
Whosoever shall counterfeit* any coin, current by law within
this Commonwealth, or any paper bills issued in the nature of
money, or of certificates of loan on the credit of this Common-
wealth, or of all or any of the United States of America, or any
Inspectors' notes for tobacco, or shall pass any such counterfeit
coin, paper, bills, or notes, knowing them to be counterfeit ; or,
for the sake of lucre, shall diminish,f case, or wash any such coin,
shall be condemned to hard labor six years in the public works,
and shall forfeit all his lands and goods to the Commonwealth.
^Whosoever committeth Arson, shall be condemned to hard
labor five years in the public works, and shall make good the loss
of the sufferers threefold.
* 25. E. 3. st. 5. c. 2. 5. El. c. 11. 18. El. c. 1. 8. 9. W. 3. c. 26. 15. 16. G. 2. c. 28. 7. Ann.
c. 25. By the laws of Aethelstan and Canute, this was punished by cutting off the
hand. " Gif se mynetere ful wurthe slea man tha hand of, the he that ful mid worthe
and sette uppon tha mynet smiththan." In English characters and words " if the
minter foul [criminal] wert, slay the hand off, that he the foul [crime] with wrought,
and set upon the mint-smithery." LI. Arthelst. 14. " Et si quis praeter hanc, falsam
fecerit, perdat mauuin quacum falsam^confecit." LI. Cnuti. 8. It had been death by
the LI. Aethelredi sub fine. By thos--e of H. 1. "si quis cum falso denario inventus*
fuerit fiat justitia mea, saltern de dextro pugno et de testiculis." Anno 1108. Op-
erae pretium vero est audire quam severus rex fuerit in pravos. Monetarios enim
fere omnes totius Angliae fecit ementulari, et manus dcxtras abscindi, quia monetam
furtive corruperarit. Wilkins ib. et anno 1125. When the Common law became set-
tled, it appears to have been punishable by death. "Est aluid genus criminis quod
sub nomine falsi continetur, et tangit coronam domini regis, et ultimum inducit sup-
plicium, sicut de illis qui falsam fabricant monetam, et qui de re non reproba, faciuut
reprobam; eicut sunt retonsores denariorum. Bract. L. 3. c. 2. Fleta, L. 1. c. 22.
4. Lord Hale thinks it was deemed petty treason at common law. 1. H. P. C. 220.
224. The bringing in false money with intent to merchandize, and make payment of
it, is treason, by 25. E. 3. But the best proof of the intention, is the act of passing
it, ami why not leave room for repentance here, as in other cases of felonies intended ?
l.H. P. C. 229.
f Clipping, filing, rounding, impairing, scaling, lightening, (the words in the statutes)
are included in " diminishing ;" gilding, in the word " casing ;" coloring in the word
" washing ;" and falsifying, or making, is "counterfeiting."
\ 43. L. c. 13. confined to four counties. 22. 23. Car. 2. c. 7. 9. G. 1. c. 22. 9. G. 3. c. 29.
Arson was a felony at Common law 3. Inst. 66 ; punished by a fine, LI. Aethelst. 6.
156 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
If any person shall, within this Commonwealth, or being a citi-
zen thereof, shall without the same, wilfully destroy,* or runf
away with any sea-vessel, or goods laden on board thereof, or
plunder or pilfer any wreck, he shall be condemned to hard labor
five years in the public works, and shall make good the loss of
the sufferers threefold.
Whosoever committeth Robbery ,J shall be condemned to hard
labor four years in the public works, and shall make double repa-
ration to the persons injured.
Whatsoever act, if committed on any Mansion house, would be
deemed Burglary,<> shall be Burglary, if committed on any other
But LI. Cnuti, 61. make it a "scelus inexpiable." '' Hus brec and bsernet and
open thyfth seberemorth and hlaford swice aefter woruld laga is botleds." Word for
word, "house break and burnt, and open theft, and manifest murther, and lord-
treachery, afterworld's law is bootless." Bracton says it was punished by death. " Si
quis turbida seditione inceudium fecerit nequiter et in felonia, vel ob inimicitias, vel
praedandi causa, capitali puniatur poena vel senteutia." Bract. L. 3. 27. He defines
it as commissible by burning " aedes zilienas.' " Ib. Britton, c. 9. " Ausi soit enquis
deceux que felonisement en temps de pees eient autre blees ou autre mesons ars, et ceux
que serrount de ceo atteyntz. soient ars issint que eux soient punys par mesme cele
chose dount ilz pecherent." Fleta, L. 1. c. 37. is a copy of Bracton. The Mirror c. 1.
8. says, " Ardours sont que ardent citie, ville, maison home, maison beast, oxi auters
chatelx, de lour felonie en temps de pace pour haine ou vengeance." Again, c. 2.
11. pointing out the words of the appellor "jeo dise que Sebright, <tc., entiel meason
ou biens mist de feu." Coke 3. Inst. 67. says, " the ancient authors extended this fel-
ony further than houses, viz., to sacks of corn, waynes or carts of coal, wood or other
goods." He denies it as commissible, not only on the inset houses, parcel of the man-
sion house, but the outset also, as barn, stable, cowhouse, sheep house, dairy house,
mill house, and the like, parcel of the mansion house. But " burning of a barn, being
no parcel of a mansion house, is no felony," unless there be corn or hay within it. Ib.
The 22. 23. Car. 2. and 9. G. 1. are the principal statutes against arson. They extend
the offence beyond the Common law.
* 1. Ann. st. 2. c. 9. 12. Ann. c. 18. 4. G.I. c. 12. 26. G. 2. c. 19.
f 11.12. W. 3. c. 7.
} Robbery was a felony at Common law. 3 Inst. 68. " Scelus inexpiable," by the
LI. Cnuti. 61. [See before in Arson.] It was punished with death. Britt. c. 15>
"de robbours et de larouns et de semblables mesfesours, soit ausi ententivemeut en-
qnis et tauntost soient ceux robbours juges a la mort." Fleta says, "si quis cou-
victus ftierit de bouis viri robbatis vel asportatis ad sectam regis judicium capitale
eubibit. L. 1. c. 39. See also Bract. L. 3. c. 32. 1.
Burglary was felony at the Common law. 3 Inst. 63. It was not distinguished
by ancient authors, except the Mirror, from simple House-breaking, ib. 65. Burglary
and House-breaking were called " Hamsockne diximus etiam de pad" violatioue et de
APPENDIX. 157
house ; and he, who is guilty of Burglary, shall be condemned to
hard labor four years in the public works, and shall make double
reparation to the persons injured.
Whatsoever act, if committed in the night time, shall consti-
tute the crime of Burglary, shall, if committed in the day, be
deemed House-breaking ; * and whosoever is guilty thereof, shall
be condemned to hard labor three years in the public works, and
shall make reparation to the persons injured.
Whosoever shall be guilty of Horse-stealing,f shall be con-
immunittitibus domus, si quis hoc in posterum fecerit ut perdat omue quod habet, et
sit in regis arbitrio utrum vitam habeat. Eac we quoedon be muudbryce and be ham
socnum, sethe hit ofer this do tbset he dolie ealles thaes the age, and sy on Cyninges
dome hwiether he life age ; and we quoth of mound-breach, and of home-seeking
he who it after this do, that he dole all that he owe [owns], and is in king's doom
whether he life owes [owns.] LI. Eadmundi. c. 6. and see LI. Cuuti. 61. " hus brec,"
in notes on Arson, ante. A Burglar was also called a Burgessor. "Et soit enquis
de Burgessours et sunt tenus Burgessours trestous ceux que > felonisement en temps de
pees debrusont esglises ou auter mesons, ou murs ou portes de nos cytes, ou de nos
Burghes." Britt. c. 10. ' Burglaria est nocturna diruptio habitaculi alicujiis, vel eccle-
siae, etiam murorum, partarumve civitatis nut burgi, ad feloniam aliquam perpe*
trandam. Noctanter dico, receutiores secutus ; veteres enim hoc uon adjungunt.
Spelm. gloss, verb. Burglaria. It was punished with death. Ib. citn. from the office
of a Coroner. It may be committed in the outset houses, as well as inset. 3 List.
65. though not under the same roof or contiguous, provided they be within the Cur-
tilage or Homestall. 4 Bl. 225. As by the Common law, all felonies were clergiable,
the stat. 23 H. 8. c. 1. 5. E. 6. c. 9. and 18 El. c. 7. first distinguished them, by tak- '
ing the clerical privilege of impunity from the principals, and 3. 4. \V. M. c. 9.
from accessories before the fact. No statute defines what Burglary is. The 12 Ann.
c. 7. decides the doubt whether, where breaking is subsequent to entry, it is Burglary.
Bacon's Elements had affirmed, and 1. H. P. C. j>54. had deuied it. Our bill must dis-
tinguish them by different degrees of punishment.
* At the Common law, the offence of Housebreaking was not distinguished from
Burglary, and neither of them from any other larceny. The statutes at first took
away clergy from Burglary, which made a leading distinction between the two of-
fences. Later statutes, however, have taken clergy from so many cases of House-
breaking, as nearly to bring the offences together again. These are 23 H. 8. c. 1. 1.
E. 6. c. 12. 5 and 6 E. 6. c. 9. 3 and 4 W. M. c. 9. 39 El. c. 15. 10 and 11 W. 3 c. 23.
12 Ann. c. 7. See Barr. 428. 4 Bl. 240. The circumstances which in these statutes char-
acterize the offence, seem to have been occasional and unsystematical. The houses
on which Burglary may be committed, and the circumstances which constitute that
crime being ascertained, it will be better to define Housebreaking by the same sub-
jects and circumstances, and let the crimes be distinguished only by the hour at
which they are committed, and the degree of punishment.
f The offence of Horse-stealing seems properly distinguishable from other larcenies.
158 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
demned to hard labor three years in the public works, and shall
make reparation to the person injured.
Grand Larceny* shall be where the goods stolen are of the
value of five dollars ; and whosoever shall be guilty thereof, shall
be forthwith put in the pillory for one half hour, shall be con-
demned to hard laborf two years in the public works, and shall
make reparation to the person injured.
here, where these animals generally run at large, the temptation being so great and
frequent, and the facility of commission so remarkable. See 1 E. 6. c. 12. 23 E. 6. c.
33. 31 El. c. 12.
* The distinction between grand and petty larceny, is very ancient. At first 8d.
was the sum which constituted grand larceny. LI. Aethelst. c. 1. "Ne parcatur ulli
furi, qui fur-turn manutenens captus sit, supra 12. annos nato, et supra 8. denarioa."
Afterwards, in the same king's reign it was raised to 12d. "non parcatur alicui furi
ultra 12 denarois, et ultra 12 annos nato ut occidemus ilium et capiamus omnequod
possidet, et imprimis sumamus rei furto ablatae pretium ab haerede, ac dividatur
postea reliquum in duas partes, una pars uxori, si munda, et facinoris conscia nou sit;
et residuum in duo, dimidium capiat rex, dimidium societas." LI. Aethelst. Wilkins,
p. 65.
) LI. Inae. c. 7. " Si quis furetur ita ut uxor ejus et infans ipsius nesciaut, solvat 60.
solidos poeuae loco. Si autem furetur testantibus omnibus haeredibus suis, abeant
omnes in servitutem." Ina was king of the West-Saxons, and began to reign A. C. 688.
After the union of the Heptarchy, i. e. temp. Aethelst. inter 924 and 940, we find it
punishable with death as above. So it was inter 1017 and 1035, i. e. temp. Cuuti. LL
Cnuti 61. cited in notes on Arson. In the time of William the conqueror, it seems to
have been made punishable by fine only. LI. Gul. conq. apud Wilk. p. 218, 220. This
commutation, however, was taken away by LI. H. 1. anno 1108. "Si quis in furto
vel latrocinio cleprehensus fuisset, suspenderetur ; sublata wirgildorum, id est, pecu-
niarae redemptionis lege." Larceny is the felonious taking and carrying away of the
personal goods of another. 1. As to the taking, the 3. 4. W. M. c. 9 5. is not addi-
tional to the Common law, but declaratory of it ; because where only the care or
use, and not the possession, of things is delivered, to take them was larceny at the
Common law. The 33. H. 6. c. 1 and 21 H. 8. c. 7. indeed, have added to the Com-
mon law, by making it larceny in a servant to convert things of his master's. But
quaere, if they should be imitated more than as to other breaches of trust in general.
2. As to the subject of larceny, 4 G. 2. c. 32. 6 G. 3. c. 36. 48. 43. El. c. 7. 15. Car. 2.
c. 2. 23. G. 2. c. 26. 31. G. 2. c. 35. 9. G. 3. c. 41. 25. G. 2. c. 10. have extended larceny
to things of various sorts either real, or fixed to the reality. But the enumeration is
unsystematical, and in this country, where the produce of the earth is so spontaneous,
as to have rendered things of this kind scarcely a breach of civility or good manners,
in the eyes of the people, quaere, if it would not too much enlarge the field of Crim-
inal law? The same may be questioned of 9 G. 1. c. 22. 13 Car. 2. c. 10. 10 G. 2. c.
32. 5 G. 3. c. 14. 22 and 23 Car. 2. c. 25. 37 E. 3. c. 19. making it felony to steal ani-
mals fera? naturae.
APPENDIX. 159
Petty Larceny shall be, where the goods stolen are of less value
than five dollars ; and whosoever shall be guilty thereof, shall be
forthwith put in the pillory for a quarter of an hour, shall be con-
demned to hard labor one year in the public works, and shall
make reparation to the person injured.
Robbery* or larceny of bonds, bills obligatory, bills of ex-
change, or promissory notes for the payment of money or tobacco,
lottery tickets, paper bills issued in the nature of money, or of
certificates of loan on the credit of this Commonwealth, or of all
or any of the United States of Amerida, or Inspectors' notes for
tobacco, shall be punished in the same manner as robbery or
larceny of the money or tobacco due on, or represented by such
papers.
Buyers! an d receivers of goods taken by way of robbery or
larceny, knowing them to have been so taken, shall be deemed
accessaries to such robbery or larceny after the fact.
Prison-breakers;];, also, shall be deemed accessaries after the fact,
to traitors or felons whom they enlarge from prison. $
* 2 G. 2. e. 25 3. 7 G. 3. c. 50.
f 3. 4. W. M. c. 9. 4. 5 Ann. c. 31. 5. 4 G. 1. c. 11. 1.
j 1 E. 2.
Breach of prison at the Common law was capital, without regard to the crime
for which the party was committed. " Cum pro criminis qualitate in carcerem re-
cepti fuerint, conspiraverint (ut ruptis vinculis aut fracto carcere) evaduut, amplius
(quam causa pro qua recepti aunt exposeit) puniendi sunt, videlicet ultimo sup-
plied, quamvis ex eo crimine iunocentes inveniantur, propter quod induct! stint in
carcerem et imparcati. Bracton L. 3. c. 9. 4. Britt. c. 11. Fleta, L. 1. c. 26. 4.
Yet in the Y. B. Hill. 1. H. 7. 2. Hussey says, that by the opinion of Billing and
Choke, and all the justices, it was a felony in strangers only, but not in the prisoner
himself. S. C. Fitz. Abr. Coron. 48. They are principal felons, not accessaries, ib.
Whether it was felony in the prisoner at Common law, is doubted. Stain. P. C. 30. b
The Mirror c. 5. 1, says, ' abu.~ion est a tener escape de prisoner, ou de bruserie
del gaole pur peche mortell, car eel usage nest garrant per nul ley, ne in mil part est
use forsque in cest realme, et en France, eius [rnais] e^t leu garrantie de ceo faire
per la ley de nature." 2 Inst. 589. The stat. 1. E. 2. de fraugentibus prisonam, re
strained the judgment of life and limb for prison breaking, to cases where the
offence of the prisoner required such judgment.
It is not only vain, but wicked, in a legislator to frame laws in opposition to the
laws of nature, and to arm them with tlie terrors of death. This is truly creating
crimes in order to punish them. The law of nature impels every one to escape from
confinement ; it should not, therefore, be subjected to punishment. Let the legislator
160 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
All attempts to delude the people, or to abuse their under-
standing by exercise of the pretended arts of witchcraft, conjur-
ation, enchantment, or sorcery, or by pretended prophecies, shal
be punished by ducking and whipping, at the discretion of a
jury, not exceeding fifteen stripes.*
If the principal offenders be fled,f or secreted from justice, in
any case not touching life or member, the accessaries may, not-
withstanding, be prosecuted as if their principal were convicted. J
If any offender stand mute of obstinacy, 4 ^ or challenge peremp-
torily more of the jurors than by law he may, being first warned
of the consequence thereof, the court shall proceed as if he had
confessed the charge. ||
restrain his criminal by walls, not by parcbment. As to strangers breaking prison to
enlarge an offender, tbey should, and may be fairly considered as accessaries aftei
the fact. This bill says nothing of the prisoner releasing himself by breacli of jail
he will have the benefit of the first section of the bill, which repeals the judgment
of life and death at the common law.
* Gif wiccan owwe wigleras nansworan, owwe morthwyrhtan owwe fule afylede
aebere horcwenan ahwhar on lande wurthan agytene, thonue fyrsie man of earde
and clainsie tha theode, owwe on earde forfare hi mid ealle, butou hi geswican and
the deeper gebetan : if witches, or weirds, man-swearers, or murther-wroughters, or
foul, defiled, open whore-queens, aywhere in the land were gotten, then force them
off earth, and cleanse the nation, or in earth forth- fare them withal, buton they be-
seech, and deeply better. LI. Ed. et Guthr. c. 11. " Sagae, mulieres barbarn, facti-
tantes sacrificia, suit pestiferi, si cui mortem intuleriut, neque id inficiari poterint,
capitis poena esto." LI. Aethelst. c. 6. apud Lambard. LI. Aelfr. 30. LI. Cnuti. c. 4.
"Mesme eel jugement (d'etrears) eyent sorcers, et sorceresses, <fcc. ut supra, Fleta ut
et ubi supra. 3. Inst. 44. Trial of witches before Hale in 1664. The statutes 33 H. S.
c. 8. 5. El. c. 1 6 and 1. Jac. 1. c. 1 2. seem to be only in confirmation of the Common law.
9 G. 2. c. 25. punishes them with pillory, and a year's imprisonment. 3 E. 6. c. 15.
5 El. c. 15. punish fond, fantastical and false prophecies, by fine and imprisonment.
f 1 Ann. c. 9. 2.
\ As every treason includes within it a misprision of treason, so every felony in-
cludes a misprision, or misdemeanor. 1 Hale P. C. 652. 708. " Licet fuerit felonia,
tamen in eo continetur misprisio." 2 R. 3 10. Both principal and accessary, there-
fore, may be proceeded against in any case, either for felony or misprision, at the
Commou law. Capital cases not being mentioned here, accessaries to theui will of
course be triable for misprisions, if the offender flies.
E. 1. c. 12.
|| Whether the judgment of penance lay at Common law. See 2 Inst. 178. 2 H.
P. C. 321. 4 BL 322. It was given on standing mute ; but on challenging more than
the legal number, whether that sentence, or sentence of death is to be given, seems
APPENDIX. 161
Pardon and Privilege of clergy, shall henceforth be abolished,
that none may be induced to injure through hope of impunity.
But if the verdict be against the defendant, and the court before
whom the offence is heard and determined, shall doubt that it
may be untrue for defect of testimony, or other cause, they may
direct a new trial to be had.*
doubtful. 2 II. P. C. 31G. Quaere, whether it would not be better to consider the
supernumerary challenge as merely void, and to proceed in the trial ? Quaere too,
in case of silence ?
* " Cum Clericus sic de crimine couvictus degradetur non sequitur alia poena pro
uno delicto, vel pluribus ante degradationcin perpetratis. Satis enim sufficit ei pro
poena degradatio, quae est magna capitis diminutio, nisi forte convictus fuerit de
apostatia, quia hinc primo degradetur, et postea per mauum laicalem comburetur,
secundum quod accidit in concilio Oxoni celebrato a bouae memoriae S. Cautuanen.
Archiepiscopo de quodani diacono, qui so apostatavit pro quadam Judaea ; qui cum
esset per epi^copum degradalus, statim fuit igni traditus per manum laicalem."
Bract. L. 3. c. 9. 2. " Et mesme eel jugement (i. e. qui ils soient ars) eyent sorcers
et sorceresses, et sodomites et mescreauntz apertemeut atteyntz. Britt. c. 9. " Chris-
tian! autem Apostatae, sortilegii, et hujusmodi dotractari debent et comburi." Fleta,
L. 1. c. 37. 2. see 3. Inst. 39. 12. Rep. 92. 1. H. P. C. 393. The extent of the cler-
ical privilege at the Common law. 1. As to the crimes, seems very obscure and un-
certain. It. extended to no case where the judgment was not of life, or limb. Note
in 2. H. P. C. 32G. This therefore excluded it in trespass, petty larceny, or killing
se defendendo. In high treason against the person of the King, it seems not to have
been allowed. Note 1. H. P. C. 185. Treasons, therefore, not against the King's
person immediately, petty treasons and felonies, seem to have been the cases where
it was allowed; and even of those, not for insidiatio variurn, depopulatio agrorum,
or combustio domorum. The statute de Clero, 25. E. 3. st. 3. c. 4. settled the law on
this head. 2. As to the persons, it extended to all clerks, always, and toties quo-
ties. 2. H. P. C. 374. To nuns also. Fitz. Abr. Corone. 461. 22. E. 3. The clerical
habit and tonsure were considered as evidence of the person being clerical. 26.
Assiz. 19. 20. E. 2. Fitz. Corone. 233. By the 9. E. 4. 28. b. 34. H. 6. 49 a. b. simple
reading became the evidence. This extended impunity to a great number of laymen,
and toties quoties. The stat. 4. H. 7. c. 13. directed that real clerks should, upon a
second arraignment, produce their order?, and all others to be burnt in the hand
with M. or T. on the first allowance of clergy, and not to be admitted to it a second
time. A heretic, Jew, or Turk (as being incapable of orders) could not have clergy.
11. Co. Rep. 29 b. But a Greek, or other alien, reading in a book of his own coun-
try, might. Bro. Clergie. 20. So a blind man, if he could speak Latin. Ib. 21. qu.
11. Rep. 29. b. The orders entitling the party, were bishops, priests, deacons and
subdeacons, the inferior being reckoned Clerici in minoribus. 2. H. P. C. 373. Qutere,
however, if this distinction is not founded on the stat. 23. H. 8. c. 1. 25. H. 8. c. 32.
By merely dropping all the statutes, it should seem that none but clerks would be
entitled to this privilege, and that they would, toties quoties.
VOL. I. 11
162 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
No attainder shall work corruption of blood in any case.
In all cases of forfeiture, the widow's dower shall be saved to
her, during her title thereto ; after which it shall be disposed of
as if no such saving had been.
The aid of Counsel,* and examination of their witnesses on
oath, shall be allowed to defendants in criminal prosecutions.
Slaves guilty of any offencef punishable in others by labor in
the public works, shall be transported to such parts in the West
Indies, South America, or Africa, as the Governor shall direct,
there to be continued in slavery.
[NOTE P.]
Notes on the Establishment of a Money Unit, and of a Coinage
for the United States.
In fixing the Unit of Money, these circumstances are of prin-
cipal importance.
I. That it be of convenient size to be applied as a measure to
the common money transactions of life.
II. That its parts and multiples be in an easy proportion to
each other, so as to facilitate the money arithmetic.
III. That the Unit and its parts, or divisions, be so nearly of
the value of some of the known corns, as that they may be of easy
adoption for the people.
The Spanish Dollar seems to fulfil all these conditions.
I. Taking into our view all money transactions, great and
small, I question if a common measure of more convenient size
than the Dollar could be proposed. The value of 100, 1000,
10,000 dollars is well estimated by the mind ; so is that of the
tenth or the hundredth of a dollar. Few transactions are above
* 1. Ann. c. 9.
f Manslaughter, counterfeiting, arson, aaportalion of vessels, robbery, burglary,
house-breaking, horse-stealing, larceny.
APPENDIX. 163
or below these limits. The expediency of attending to the size
of the money Unit will be evident, to any one who will consider
how inconvenient it would be to a manufacturer or merchant, if,
instead of the yard for measuring cloth, either the inch or the
mile had been made the Unit of Measure.
II. The most easy ratio of multiplication and division, is that
by ten. Every one knows the facility of Decimal Arithmetic.
Every one remembers, that, when learning Money- Arithmetic, he
used to be puzzled with adding the farthings, taking out the fours
and carrying them on ; adding the pence, taking out the twelves
and carrying them on ; adding the shillings, taking out the twen-
ties and carrying them on ; but when he came to the pounds,
where he had only tens to carry forward, it was easy and free
from error. The bulk of mankind are school-boys through life.
These little perplexities are always great to them. And even
mathematical heads feel the relief of an easier, substituted for a
more difficult process. Foreigners, too, who trade and travel
among us, will find a great facility in understanding our coins
and accounts from this ratio of subdivision. Those who have
had occasion to convert the livres, sols, and deniers of the French ;
the gilders, stivers, and frenings of the Dutch ; the pounds, shil-
lings, pence, and farthings of these several States, into each other,
can judge how much they would have been aided, had their
several subdivisions been in a decimal ratio. Certainly, in all
cases, where we are free to choose between easy and difficult
modes of operation, it is most rational to choose the easy. The
Financier, therefore, in his report, well proposes that our Coins
should be in decimal proportions to one another. If we adopt
the Dollar for our Unit, we should strike four coins, one of gold,
two of silver, and one of copper, viz-. :
1. A golden piece, equal in value to ten dollars :
2. The Unit or Dollar itself, of silver :
3. The tenth of a Dollar, of silver also :
4. The hundredth of a Dollar, of copper.
Compare the arithmetical operations, on the same sum of mo-
164
JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
ney expressed in this form, and expressed in the poand sterling
and its division.
s. d. qrs. Dollars.
Addition. 8 13 11 1-2=38.65
4 12 8 3-4=20.61
"13 6 8 1-4=59.26
Multiplication by 8.
o. d. qrs. Dollars.
8 13 11 1-2=38.65
20 8
$309.20
s. d. qrs. Dollars.
Subtraction. 8 13 11 1-2=38.65
4 12 8 3-4=20.61
1 ]T~2 3-4=18.04
Division by 8.
s. d. qrs. Dollars.
8 13 11 1-2=8J 38.65
20
4.83
173
12
173
12
2087
4
8350
4J 66.800
12J 16700
20J 1391 8
69 11 8
2087
4
8J 8350
4J 1043
12J 260 34
20J 21 8 3-4
1 1 8 3-4
A bare inspection of the above operations will evince the la-
bor which is occasioned by subdividing the Unit into 20ths,
240ths, and 960ths, as the English do, and as we have done ;
and the ease of subdivision in a decimal ratio. The same differ-
ence arises in making payment. An Englishman, to pay 8, 13s.
\\d. 1-2 qrs., must find, by calculation, what combination of the
coins of his country will pay this sum ; but an American, hav-
ing the same sum to pay, thus expressed $38.65, will know, by
inspection only, that three golden pieces, eight units or dollars,
six tenths, and five coppers, pay it precisely.
III. The third condition required is, that the Unit, its multiples,
arid subdivisions, coincide in value with some of the known
coins so nearly, that the people may, by a quick reference in the
mind, estimate their value. If this be not attended to, they will
be very long in adopting the innovation, if ever they adopt it.
Let us examine, in this point of view, each of the four coins
proposed.
1. The golden piece will be 1-5 more than a half joe, and
APPENDIX. 165
1-15 more than a double guinea. It will be readily estimated,
then, by reference to either of them ; but more readily and ac-
curately as equal to ten dollars.
2. The Unit, or Dollar, is a known coin, and the most familiar
of all, to the minds of the people. It is already adopted from
South to North ; has identified our currency, and therefore hap-
pily offers itself as a Unit already introduced. Our public debt,
our requisitions, and their appointments, have given it actual
and long possession of the place of Unit. The course of our
commerce, too, will bring us more of this than of any other for-
eign coin, and therefore renders it more worthy of attention. I
know of no Unit which can be proposed in competition with the
Dollar, but the Pound. But what is the Pound? 1547 grains of
fine silver in Georgia ; 1289 grains in Virginia, Connecticut,
Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire ; 1031 1-4
grains in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey ;
966 3-4 grains in North Carolina and New York. Which of
these shall we adopt ? To which State give that pre-eminence
of which all are so jealous ? And on which impose the difficul-
ties of a new estimate of their corn, their cattle, and other com-
modities ? Or shall we hang the pound sterling, as a common
badge, about all their necks ? This contains 1718 3-4 grains of
pure silver. It is difficult to familiarize a new coin to the peo-
ple ; it is more difficult to familiarize them to a new coin with
an old name. Happily, the dollar is familiar to them all, and is
already as much referred to for a measure of value, as their re-
spective provincial pounds.
3. The tenth will be precisely the Spanish bit, or half pis-
tereen. This is a coin perfectly familiar to us all. When we
shall make a new coin, then, equal in value to this, it will be of
ready estimate with the people.
4. The hundredth, or copper, will differ little from the copper of
the four Eastern States, which is 1-108 of a dollar ; still less from
the penny of New York and North Carolina, which is 1-96 of a
dollar ; and somewhat more from the penny or copper of Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, which is 1-90 of a dollar.
166 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
It will be about the medium between the old and the new coppers
of these States, and will therefore soon be substituted for them
both. In Virginia, coppers have never been in use. It will be
as easy, therefore, to introduce them there of one value as of an-
other. The copper coin proposed will be nearly equal to three-
fourths of their penny, which is the same with the penny lawful
of the Eastern States.
A great deal of small change is useful in a State, and tends to
reduce the price of small articles. Perhaps it would not be amiss
to coin three more pieces of silver, one of the value of five-tenths,
or half a dollar, one of the value of two-tenths, which would be
equal to the Spanish pistereen, and one of the value of five cop-
pers, which would be equal to the Spanish half-bit. We should
then have five silver coins, viz.:
1. The Unit or Dollar :
2. The half dollar or five-tenths :
3. The double tenth, equal to 2, or one-fifth of a dollar, or to
the pistereen :
4. The tenth, equal to a Spanish bit :
5. The five copper piece, equal to .5, or one-twentieth of a
dollar, or the half-bit.
The plan reported by the Financier is worthy of his sound
judgment. It admits, however, of objection, in the size of the
Unit. He proposes that this shall be the 1440th part of a dollar :
so that it will require 1440 of his units to make the one before
proposed. He was led to adopt this by a mathematical attention
to our old currencies, all of which this Unit will measure without
leaving a fraction. But as our object is to get rid of those cur-
rencies, the advantage derived from this coincidence will soon be
past, whereas the inconveniences of this Unit will forever remain,
if they do not altogether prevent its introduction. It is defective
in two of the three requisites of a Money Unit. 1. It is incon-
venient in its application to the ordinary money transactions.
10.000 dollars will require eight figures to express them, to wit,
14,400,000 units. A horse or bullock of eighty dollars value,
will require a notation of six figures, to wii, 115,200 units. As
APPENDIX. 167
a money of account, this will be laborious, even when facilitated
by the aid of decimal arithmetic : as a common measure of the
value of property, it will be too minute to be comprehended by
the people. The French are subjected to very laborious calcula-
tions, the Livre being their ordinary money of account, and this
but between l-5th and l-6th of a dollar ; but what will be our
labors, should our money of account be l-1440th of a dollar?
2. It is neither equal, nor near to any of the known coins in
value.
If we determine that a Dollar shall be our Unit, we must then
say with precision what a Dollar is. This coin, struck at different
times, of different weights and fineness, is of different values.
Sir Isaac Newton's assay and representation to the Lords of the
Treasury, in 1717, of those which he examined, make their
values as follows :
dwts. grs.
The Seville piece of eight . . 17 12 containing 387 grains of pure silver
The Mexico piece of eight . . . 17 10 5-9 " 385 1-2
The Pillar piece of eight . . 179 " 385 3-4
The new Seville piece of eight . . 14 " 308 7-10
The Financier states the old Dollar as containing 376 grains
of fine silver, arid the new 365 grains. If the Dollars circulating
among us be of every date equally, we should examine the quan-
tity of pure metal in each, and from them form an average for
our Unit. This is a work proper to be committed to mathemati-
cians as well as merchants, and which should be decided on actual
and accurate experiment.
The quantum of alloy is also to be decided. Some is neces-
sary, to prevent the coin from wearing too fast ; too much, fills
our pockets with copper, instead of silver. The silver coin as-
sayed by Sir Isaac Newton, varied from 1 1-2 to 76 pennyweights
alloy, in the pound troy of mixed metal. The British standard
has 18 dwt.; the Spanish coins assayed by Sir Isaac Newton,
have from 18 to 19 1-2 dwt.; the new French crown has in fact
19 1-2, though by edict, it should have 20 dwt., that is 1-12.
The taste of our countrymen will require, that their furniture
168 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
plate should be as good as the British standard. Taste cannot be
controlled by law. Let it then give the law, in a point which is
indifferent to a certain degree. Let the Legislature fix the alloy
of furniture plate at 18 dwt, the British standard, and Congress
that of their coin at one ounce in the pound, the French standard.
This proportion has been found convenient for the alloy of gold
coin, and it will simplify the system of our mint to alloy both
metals in the same degree. The coin, too, being the least pure,
will be the less easily melted into plate. These reasons are light,
indeed, and, of course, will only weigh, if no heavier ones can
be opposed to them.
The proportion between the values of gold and silver is a
mercantile problem altogether. It would be inaccurate to fix it
by the popular exchanges of a half Joe for eight dollars, a Louis
for four French crowns, or five Louis for twenty-three dollars.
The first of these, would be to adopt the Spanish proportion be-
tween gold and silver ; the second, the French ; the third, a
mere popular barter, wherein convenience is consulted more than
accuracy. The legal proportion in Spain is 16 for 1 ; in Eng-
land, 15 1-2 for 1 ; in France, 15 for 1. The Spaniards and Eng-
lish are found, in experience, to retain an over-proportion of gold
coins, and to lose their silver. The French have a greater pro-
portion of silver. The difference at market has been on the de-
crease. The Financier states it at present, as at 14 1-2 for one.
Just principles will lead us to disregard legal proportions altogeth-
er ; to enquire into the market price of gold, in the several coun-
tries with which we shall principally be connected in commerce,
and to take an average from them. Perhaps we might, with safety,
lean to a proportion somewhat above par for gold, considering our
neighborhood, and commerce with the sources of the coins, and
the tendency which the high price of gold in Spain has, to draw
thither all that of their mines, leaving silver principally for our
and other markets. It is not impossible that 15 for 1, may be
found an eligible proportion. I state it, however, as a conjecture
only.
As to the alloy for gold coin, the British is an ounce in the
APPENDIX. 169
pound; the French, Spanish, and Portuguese differ from that,
only from a quarter of a grain, to a grain and a half. I should,
therefore, prefer the British, merely because its fraction stands in
a more simple form, and facilitates the calculations into which it
enters.
Should the Unit be fixed at 365 grains of pure silver, gold at
15 for 1, and the alloy of both be one-twelfth, the weight of the
coins will be as follows :
Grains. Grains. dwt Grains.
The Golden piece containing 242 1-3 of pure metal, 22.12 of alloy, will weigh 111.45
The Unit or Dollar . 365 ... 33.18 . . . 1614.18
The half dollar, or five tenths, 182 1-2 ... 16.59 .... 8 7.09
The fifth, or Pistereen, 73 ... 6.63 . . . 3 7.63
The tenth, or Bit. . . 36 1-2 . . . 3.318 .... 115.818
The twentieth, or half Bit, .181-1. . . 1.059 . . . 19.9
The quantity of fine silver which shall constitute the Unit,
being settled, and the proportion of the value of gold to that of
silver ; a table should be formed from the assay before suggested,
classing the several foreign coins according to their fineness, de-
claring the worth of a pennyweight or grain in each 'class, and
that they shall be lawful tenders at those rates, if not clipped or
otherwise diminished ; and, where diminished, offering their value
for them at the mint, deducting the expense of re-coinage. Here
the Legislatures should co-operate with Congress, in providing
that no money be received or paid at their treasuries, or by any
of their officers, or any bank, but on actual weight ; in making
it criminal, in a high degree, to diminish their own coins, and, in
some smaller degree, to offer them in payment when diminished.
That this subject may be properly prepared, and in readiness
for Congress to take up at their meeting in November, something
must now be done. The present session drawing to a close, they
probably would not choose to enter far into this undertaking
themselves. The Committee of the States, however, during the
recess, will have time to digest it thoroughly, if Congress will
fix some general principles for their government. Suppose they
be instructed,
To appoint proper persons to assay and examine, with the ut-
170 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
most accuracy practicable, the Spanish milled dollars of different
dates, in circulation with us.
To assay and examine, in like manner, the fineness of all the
other coins which may be found in circulation within these
States.
To report to the Committee the result of these assays, by them
to be laid before Congress.
To appoint, also, proper persons to enquire what are the pro-
portions between the values of fine gold, and fine silver, at the
markets of the several countries with which we are, or probably
may be, connected in commerce ; and what would be a proper
proportion here, having regard to the average of their values at
those markets, and to other circumstances, and to report the same
to the Committee, by them to be laid before Congress.
To prepare an Ordinance for establishing the Unit of Money
within these States ; for subdividing it ; and for striking coins of
gold, silver, and copper, on the following principles :
That the Money Unit of these States shall be equal in value
to a Spanish milled dollar containing so much fine silver as the
assay, before directed, shall show to be contained, on an average,
in dollars of the several dates in circulation with us.
That this Unit shall be divided into tenths and hundredths ;
that there shall be a coin of silver of the value of a Unit ; one
other of the same metal, of the value of one-tenth of a Unit ; one
other of copper, of the value of the hundredth of a Unit.
That there shall be a coin of gold of the value of ten Units,
according to the report before directed, and the judgment of the
Committee thereon.
That the alloy of the said coins of gold and silver, shall be
equal in weight to one-eleventh part of the fine metal.
That there be proper devices for these coins.
That measures be proposed for preventing their diminution,
and also their currency, and that of any others, when diminished.
That the several foreign coins be described and classed in the
said Ordinance, the fineness of each class stated, and its value by
weight estimated in Units and decimal parts of Units.
APPENDIX. 171
And that the said draught of an Ordinance be reported to Con-
gress at their next meeting, for their consideration and determi-
nation.
Supplementary Explanations.
The preceding notes having been submitted to the considera-
tion of the Financier, he favored me with his opinion and obser-
vations on them, which render necessary the following supple-
mentary explanations.
I observed, in the preceding notes, that the true proportion of
value between gold and silver was a mercantile problem alto-
gether, and that, perhaps, fifteen for one, might be found an
eligible proportion. The Financier is so good as to inform me,
that this would be higher than the market would justify. Con-
fident of his better information on this subject, I recede from
that idea.*
He also informs me, that the several coins, in circulation
among us, have been already assayed with accuracy, and the
result published in a work on that subject. The assay of Sir
Isaac Newton had superseded, in my mind, the necessity of this
operation as to the older coins, which were the subject of his
examination. This later work, with equal reason, may be con-
sidered as saving the same trouble as to the latter coins.
So far, then, I accede to the opinions of the Financier. On
the other hand, he seems to concur with me, in thinking his
smallest fractional division too minute for a Unit, and, therefore,
proposes to transfer that denomination to his largest silver coin,
containing 1000 of the units first proposed, and worth about
4s. 2d. lawful, or 25-36 of a Dollar. The only question then
remaining between us is, whether the Dollar, or this coin, be
* In a newspaper, which frequently gives good details in political economy, I find,
under the Hamburgh head, that the present market price of Gold and Silver is. iu
England, 15.5 for 1 : in Russia, 15 : in Holland, 14.75 : iu Savoy, 14.6 : in France,
14.42: in Spain, 14.3: in Germany, 14.155: the average of which is 14.675 or 14
5-8. I would still incline to give a little more than the market price for gold, be-
cause of its superior convenience in transportation.
172 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
best for the Unit. We both agree that the ease of adoption with
the people, is the thing to be aimed at.
1. As to the Dollar, events have overtaken and superseded the
question. It is no longer a doubt whether the people can adopt
it with ease ; they have adopted it, and will have to be turned
out of that, into another tract of calculation, if another Unit be
assumed. They have now two Units, which they use with
equal facility, viz., the Pound of their respective State, and the
Dollar. The first of these is peculiar to each State : the second,
happily, common to all. In each State, the people have an easy
rule of converting the pound of their State into dollars, or dol-
lars into pounds ; and this is enough for them, without knowing
how this may be done in every State of the Union. Such of
them as live near enough the borders of their State to have deal-
ings with their neighbors, learn also the rule of their neighbors :
thus, in Virginia and the Eastern States, where the dollar is 6s.
or 3-10 of a pound, to turn pounds into dollars, they multiply
by 10 and divide by 3. To turn dollars into pounds, they mul-
tiply by 3, and divide by 10. Those in Virginia who live near
to Carolina, Avhcre the dollar is 8s. or 4-10 of a pound, learn the
operation of that State, which is a multiplication by 4, and divi-
sion by 10, et e converse. Those who live near Maryland,
where the dollar is 7s. 6d. or 3-8 of a pound, multiply by 3, and
divide by 8, ct e converso. All these operations are easy, and
have been found, by experience, not too much for the arith-
metic of the people, when they have occasion to convert their
old Unit into dollars, or the reverse.
2. As to the Unit of the Financier; in the States where the
dollars is 3-10 of a pound, this Unit will be 5-24. Its conversion
into the pound then, will be by a multiplication of 5, and a di-
vision by 24. In the States where the dollar is 3-8 of a pound,
this Unit will be 25-96 of a pound, and the operation must be to
multiply by 25, and divide by 96, et e converso. Where the
dollar is 4-10 of a pound, this Unit will be 5-18. The simplicity
of the fraction, and of course the facility of conversion arid recon-
version, is therefore against this Unit, and in favor of the dollar, in
APPENDIX. 173
every instance. The only advantage it has over the dollar, is, that
it will in every case express our farthing without a remainder ;
whereas, though the dollar and its decimals will do this in many
cases, it will not in all. But, even in these, by extending your
notation one figure further, to wit, to thousands, you approximate
to perfect accuracy within less than the two-thousandth part of a
dollar ; an atom in money which every one would neglect. Against
this single inconvenience, the other advantages of the dollar are
more than sufficient to preponderate. This Unit will present to
the people a new coin, and whether they endeavor to estimate its
value by comparing it with a Pound, or with a Dollar, the Units
they now possess, they will find the fraction very compound, and
of course less accommodated to their comprehension and habits
than the dollar. Indeed the probability is, that they could never
be led to compute in it generally.
The Financier supposes that the 1-100 part of a dollar is not suffi-
ciently small, where the poor are purchasers or vendors. If it is
not, make a smaller coin. But I suspect that it is small enough.
Let us examine facts, in countries where we are acquainted with
them. In Virginia, where our towns are few, small, and of course
their demand for necessaries very limited, we have never yet been
able to introduce a copper coin at all. The smallest coin which
anybody will receive there, is the half-bit, or 1-20 of a dollar. In
those States where the towns are larger and more populous, a
more habitual barter of small wants, has called for a copper coin
of 1-90, 1-96, or 1-108 of a dollar. In England, where the towns
are many and populous, and where ages of experience have ma-
tured the conveniences of intercourse, they have found that some
wants may be supplied for a farthing, or 1-208 of a dollar, and
they have accommodated a coin to this want. This business is
evidently progressive. In Virginia, we are far behind. In some
other States, they are further advanced, to wit, to the appreciation
of 1-90, 1-96, 1-108 of a dollar. To this most advanced state,
then, I accommodated my smallest coin in the decimal arrange
ment, as a money of payment, corresponding with the money of
account. I have no doubt the time will come when a smallei
174 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
coin will be called for. When that comes, let it be made. It
will probably be the half of the copper I suppose, that is to say,
5-1000 or .005 of a dollar, this being very nearly the farthing of
England. But it will be time enough to make it, when the peo-
ple shall be ready to receive it.
My proposition then, is, that our notation of money shall be
decimal, descending ad libitum of the person noting ; that the
Unit of this notation shall be a Dollar ; that coins shall be ac-
commodated to it from ten dollars to the hundreth of a dollar
and that, to set this on foot, the resolutions be adopted which
were proposed in the notes, only substituting an enquiry into the
fineness of the coins in lieu of an assay of them.
[NOTE G.]
I have sometimes asked myself, whether my country is the
better for my having lived at all ? I do not know that it is. I
have been the instrument of doing the following things ; but they
would have been done by others ; some of them, perhaps, a little
better.
The Rivanna had never been used for navigation ; scarcely an
empty canoe had ever passed down it. Soon after I came of age,
I examined its obstructions, set on foot a subscription for remov-
ing them, got an Act of Assembly passed, and the thing effected,
so as to be used completely and fully for carrying down all our
produce.
The Declaration of Independence.
I proposed the demolition of the church establishment, and the
freedom of religion. It could only be done by degrees ; to wit,
the Act of 1776, c. 2. exempted dissenters from contributions to
the Church, and left the Church clergy to be supported by volun-
tary contributions of their own sect ; was continued from year to
year, and made perpetual 1779, c. 36. I prepared the act for re-
ligious freedom in 1777, as part of the revisal, which was not
APPENDIX. 175
reported to the Assembly till 1779, and that particular law not
passed till 1785, and then by the efforts of Mr. Madison.
The act putting an end to entails.
The act prohibiting the importation of slaves.
The act concerning citizens, and establishing the natural right
of man to expatriate himself, at will.
The act changing the course of descents, and giving the in-
heritance to all the children, &c., equally, I drew as part of the
revisal.
The act for apportioning crimes and punishments, part of the
same work, I drew. When proposed to the legislature, by Mr.
Madison, in 1785, it failed by a single vote. G. K. Taylor after-
wards, in 1796, proposed the same subject ; avoiding the adoption
of any part of the diction of mine, the text of which had been
studiously drawn in the technical terms of the law, so as to give
no occasion for new questions by new expressions. When I drew
mine, public labor was thought the best punishment to be substi-
tuted for death. But, while I was in France, I heard of a society
in England, who had successfully introduced solitary confine-
ment, and saw the drawing of a prison at Lyons, in France,
formed on the idea of solitary confinement. And, being applied to
by the Governor of Virginia for the plan of a Capitol and Prison,
I sent him the Lyons plan, accompanying it with a drawing on a
smaller scale, better adapted to our use. This was in June, 1786.
Mr. Taylor very judiciously adopted this idea, (which had now
been acted on in Philadelphia, probably from the English model)
and substituted labor in confinement, to the public labor proposed
by the Committee of revisal ; which themselves would have done,
had they been to act on the subject again. The public mind
was ripe for this in 1796, when Mr. Taylor proposed it, and
ripened chiefly by the experiment in Philadelphia ; whereas, in
1785, when it had been proposed to our Assembly, they were not
quite ripe for it.
In 1789 and 1790, 1 had a great number of olive plants, of the
best kind, sent from Marseilles to Charleston, for South Carolina
and Georgia. They were planted, and are flourishing ; and,
176 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
though not yet multiplied, they will be the germ of that cultiva-
tion in those States.
In 1790, 1 got a cask of heavy upland rice, from the river Den-
bigh, in Africa, about lat. 9 30' North, which I sent to Charles-
ton, in hopes it might supersede the culture of the wet rice, which
renders South Carolina and Georgia so pestilential through the
summer. It was divided, and a part sent to Georgia. I know
not whether it has been attended to in South Carolina ; but it
has spread in the upper parts of Georgia, so as to have become
almost general, and is highly prized. Perhaps it may answer in
Tennessee and Kentucky. The greatest service which can be
rendered any country is, to add an useful plant to its culture ;
especially, a bread grain ; next in value to bread is oil.
Whether the act for the more general diffusion of knowledge
will ever be carried into complete e fleet, I know not. It was re-
ceived by the legislature with great enthusiasm at first ; and a
small effort was made in 1796, by the act to establish public
schools, to carry a part of it into effect, viz., that for the estab-
lishment of free English schools ; but the option given to the
courts has defeated the intention of the act.*
[NOTE H.]
New York, October 13, 1789.
SIR,
In the selection of characters to fill the important offices of
Government, in the United States, I was naturally led to contem-
plate the talents and dispositions which I knew you to possess and
entertain for the service of your country ; and without being able
to consult your inclination, or to derive any knowledge of your
intention from your letters, either to myself or to any other of
[* It appears, from a blank space at the bottom of this paper, that a continua-
tion had been intended. Indeed, from the loose manner in which the above notes
are written, it may be inferred, that they were originally intended as memoranda
only, to be used in some more permanent form.]
APPENDIX. 177
your friends, I was determined, as well by motives of private re-
gard, as a conviction of public propriety, to nominate you for the
Department of State, which, under its present organization, in-
volves many of the most interesting objects of the Executive
authority. But grateful as your acceptance of this commission
would be to me, I am, at the same time, desirous to accommodate
your wishes, and I have, therefore, forborne to nominate your
successor at the court of Versailles, until I should be informed
of your determination.
Being on the eve of a journey through the Eastern States, with
a view to observe the situation of the country, and in a hope of
perfectly re-establishing my health, which a series of indisposi-
tions has much impaired, I have deemed it proper to make this
communication of your appointment, in order that you might
lose no time, should it be your wish to visit Virginia during the
recess of Congress, which will probably be the most convenient
season, both as it may respect your private concerns and the
public service.
Unwilling, as I am, to interfere in the direction of your choice
of assistants, I shall only take the liberty of observing to you,
that from warm recommendations which I have received in be-
half of Roger Alden, Esq., assistant Secretary to the late Congress,
I have placed all the papers thereunto belonging, under his care.
Those papers which more properly appertain to the office of
Foreign Affairs, are under the superintendence of Mr. Jay, who
has been so obliging as to continue his good offices, and they are
in the immediate charge of Mr. Remsen.
With sentiments of very great esteem and regard,
I have the honor to be, sir,
Your most obedient servant,
GEOKGE WASHINGTON.
The Honorable Thomas Jefferson.
I take this occasion to acknowledge the receipt of your several
favors, of the 4th and 5th of December of the last, and 10th of
May of the present year, and to thank you for the communica-
tions therein. G. W.
VOL i. 12
178 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
New York, November 30, 1789.
DEAR SIR,
You will perceive by the enclosed letter, (which was left for
you at the office of Foreign Affairs, when I made a journey to
the Eastern States,) the motives on which I acted with regard to
yourself, and the occasion of my explaining them at that early
period.
Having now reason to hope, from Mr. Trumbull's report, that
you will be arrived at Norfolk before this time, (on which event
I would most cordially congratulate you,) and having a safe con-
veyance by Mr. Griffin, I forward your commission to Virginia ;
with a request to be-made acquainted with your sentiments as soon
as you shall find it convenient to communicate them to me.
With sentiments of very great esteem and regard,
I am, dear sir,
Your most obedient humble servant,
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
The Honorable Thomas Jefferson.
BOOK II.
CORRESPONDENCE,
PART I BEFORE HIS MISSION TO EUROPE, 1773-1783.
II WHILE MINISTER TO FRANCE, 1784-1790.
" III FROM HIS RETURN TO UNITED STATES TO
HIS DEATH, 1790-1826.
INTRODUCTORY TO BOOK II.
THIS division of the work includes all the Correspondence, official and private, of
Thomas Jefferson, from 1762 to his death in 1826, which possesses general interest
or permanent public value. For the purpose of easy reference, it has been classified
as follows:
PART I. LETTERS WRITTEN BEFORE HIS MISSION TO EUROPE. The letters included
in this division, consist principally of the private correspondence of the Author's
youth, and his official letters while Governor of Virginia. The former are interest-
ing mainly as illustrating his character, his views, and his purposes in life. The
latter, relating to the period of the invasion of Virginia, and the military operations
in the South, possess no inconsiderable historical value.
PAET II. LETTERS WRITTEN WHILE IN EUROPE. The letters included in this divi-
sion, relate principally to the objects of his mission to Europe his efforts to extend
the commercial relations of this country with the European nations the history of
particular treaties of commerce piratical depredations upon our commerce by the
Barbary States our Foreign Debt our relations generally with Europe the rise
and progress of the French Revolution through its early stages his views of the
Confederation and the new Constitution the political and social condition of Europe,
<tc., all interspersed with the reflections by the Author upon every variety of topic,
literary, scientific, social, and political.
PART III. LETTERS WRITTEX AFTER HIS RETURN TO THE UNITED STATES TO THE TIME
OF HIS DEATH. To the great majority of readers, this will be found to be much the
most interesting division of the work, ranging, as it does, over the whole field of Lit-
erature, Philosophy, Science, Religion, Morals, History, and Politics, and embodying
the mature views of the Author upon nearly all the great Constitutional questions
which have arisen under our Government, and many of the most important prob-
lems which have agitated the world.
PART I.
LETTERS WRITTEN BEFORE HIS MISSION TO EUROPE.
1773-1783.
TO JOHN PAGE.
FAIEFIELD, December 25, 1762.
DEAR PAGE, This very day, to others the day of greatest mirth
and jollity, sees me overwhelmed with more and greater mis-
fortunes than have befallen a descendant of Adam for these thou-
sand years past, lam sure ; and perhaps, after excepting Job, since
the creation of the world. I think his misfortunes were somewhat
greater than mine ; for, although we may be pretty nearly on
a level in other respects, yet, I thank my God, I have the ad-
vantage of brother Job in this, that Satan has not as yet put
forth his hand to load me with bodily afflictions. You must
know, dear Page, that I am now in a house surrounded with
enemies, who take counsel together against my soul ; and when
I lay me down to rest, they say among themselves, come let us
destroy him. I am sure if there is such a thing as a Devil in
this world, he must have been here last night, and have had
some hand in contriving what happened to me. Do you think
the cursed rats (at his instigation, I suppose) did not eat up my
pocket-book, which was in my pocket, within a foot of my
head ? And not contented with plenty for the present, they
carried away my jemmy-worked silk garters, and half a dozen
new minuets I had just got, to serve, I suppose, as provision for
the winter. But of this I should not have accused the Devil,
(because, you know rats will be rats, and hunger, without the
addition of his instigations, might have urged them to do this,)
182 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
if something worse, and from a different quarter, had not hap-
pened. You know it rained last night, or if you do not know
it, I am sure I do. When I went to bed, I laid my watch in
the usual place, and going to take her up after I arose this
morning, I found her in the same place, it's true, but Quantum
mutatus ab illo ! all afloat in water, let in at a leak in the roof
of the house, and as silent and still as the rats that had eat my
pocket-book. Now, you know, if chance had had anything to
do in this matter, there were a thousand other spots where it
might have chanced to leak as well as at this one, which was
perpendicularly over my watch. But I'll tell you, it's my
opinion that the Devil came and bored the hole over it on pur-
pose. Well, as I was saying, my poor watch had lost her
speech. I should not have cared much for this, but something
worse attended it ; the subtle particles of the water with which
the case was filled, had, by their penetration, so overcome the
cohesion of the particles of the paper, of which my dear picture
and watch-paper were composed, that, in attempting to take
them out to dry them, good God ! Mens horret referre ! My
cursed fingers gave them such a rent, as I fear I never shall get
over. This, cried I, was the last stroke Satan had in reserve for
me ; he knew I cared not for anything else he could do to me,
and was determined to try his last most fatal expedient. "Multis
fortuncB milneribus percussus, huic uni me imparem se?isi, et
penitus succubui /" I would have cried bitterly, but I thought
it beneath the dignity of a man, and a man too, who had read
7o*>' otjuf, TU /JEV fqp'TJwo', in d'ax etp'^uiv. However, whatever mis-
fortunes may attend the picture or lover, my hearty prayers shall
be, that all the health and happiness which Heaven can send
may be the portion of the original, and that so much goodness
may ever meet with what may be most agreeable in this world,
as I am sure it must be in the next. And now, although the
picture be defaced, there is so lively an image of her imprinted
in my mind, that I shall think of her too often, I fear, for my
peace of mind ; and too often, I am sure, to get through old
Coke this winter ; for God knows I have not seen him since I
CORRESPONDENCE. 183
packed him up in my trunk in Williamsburg. Well, Page, I
do wish the Devil had old Coke, for I am sure I never was so
tired of an old dull scoundrel in my life. What ! are there so
few inquietudes tacked to this momentary life of ours, that we
must need be loading ourselves with a thousand more ? Or, as
brother Job says, (who, by-the-bye, I think began to whine a lit-
tle under his afflictions,) "Are not my days few? Cease then,
that I may take comfort a little before I go whence I shall not
return, even to the land of darkness, and the shadow of death."
But the old fellows say we must read to gain knowledge, and
gain knowledge to make us happy and admired. Mere jargon !
Is there any such thing as happiness in this world ? No. And as
for admiration, I am sure the man who powders most, perfumes
most, embroiders most, and talks most nonsense, is most admired.
Though to be candid, there are some who have too much good
sense to esteem such monkey-like animals as these, in whose
formation, as the saying is, the tailors and barbers go halves with
God Almighty ; and since these are the only persons whose es-
teem is worth a wish, I do not know but that, upon the whole,
the advice of these old fellows may be worth following.
You cannot conceive the satisfaction it would give me to
have a letter from you. Write me very circumstantially every-
thing which happened at the wedding. Was she there ? be-
cause, if she was, I ought to have been at the Devil for not be-
ing there too. If there is any news stirring in town or country,
such as deaths, courtships, or marriages, in the circle of my ac-
quaintance, let me know it. Remember me affectionately to
all the young ladies of my acquaintance, particularly the Miss
Burwells, and Miss Potters, and tell them that though that heavy
earthly part of me, my body, be absent, the better half of me,
my soul, is ever with them, and that my best wishes shall ever
attend them. Tell Miss Alice Corbin that I verily believe the
rats knew I was to win a pair of garters from her, or they n^er
would have been so cruel as to carry mine away. This very
consideration makes me so sure of the bet, that I shall ask every-
body I see from that part of the world what pretty gentleman
184 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
is making his addresses to her. I would fain ask the favor of
Miss Becca Burwell to give me another watch-paper of her own
cutting, which I should esteem much more, though it were a
plain round one, than the nicest in the world cut by other
hands ; however, I am afraid she would think this presumption,
after my suffering the other to get spoiled. If you think you
can excuse me to her for this, I should be glad if you would
ask her. Tell Miss Sukey Potter that I heard, just before I
came out of town, that she was offended with me about some-
thing, what it is I do not know ; but this I know, that I never
was guilty of the least disrespect to her in my life, either in
word or deed ; as far from it as it has been possible for one to
be. I suppose when we meet next, she will be endeavoring to
repay an imaginary affront with a real one ; but she may save
herself the trouble, for nothing that she can say or do to me
shall ever lessen her in my esteem, and I am determined always
to look upon her as the same honest-hearted, good-humored,
agreeable lady I ever did. Tell tell in short, tell them all
ten thousand things more than either you or I can now or ever
shall think of as long as we live.
My mind has been so taken up with thinking of my acquaint-
ances, that, till this moment, I almost imagined myself in Wii-
liamsburg, talking to you in our old unreserved way ; and never
observed, till I turned over the leaf, to what an immoderate size
I had swelled my letter; however, that I may not tire your
patience by further additions, I will make but this one more, that
I am sincerely and affectionately,
Dear Page, your friend and servant.
P. S. I am now within an easy day's ride of Shad well, whither
I shall proceed in two or three days.
TO JOHN PAGE.
SHADWKLL, Jan. 20, 1763.
DEAR PAGE, To tell you the plain truth, I have not a syllable to
write to you about. For I do not conceive that anything can happen
CORRESPONDENCE. 185
in my world which you would give a curse to know, or I either.
All things here appear to me to trudge on in one and the same
round : we rise in the morning that we may eat breakfast, dinner
and supper, and go to bed again that we may get up the next
morning and do the same : so that you never saw two peas more
alike than our yesterday and to-day. Under these circumstances,
what would you have me say ? Would you that I should write
nothing but truth ? I tell you I know nothing that is true. Or
would you rather that I should write you a pack of lies ? Why,
unless they were more ingenious than I am able to invent, they
would furnish you with little amusement. What can I do then ?
nothing, but ask you the news in your world. How have you
done since I saw you ? How did Nancy look at you when you
danced with her at Southall's ? Have you any glimmering of
hope ? How does R. B. do ? Had 1 better stay here and do no-
thing, or go down and do less ? or, in other words, had I better
stay here while I am here, or go down that I may have the pleas-
ure of sailing up the river again in a full-rigged flat ? Inclination
tells me to go, receive my sentence, and be no longer in suspense ;
but reason says, if you go, and your attempt proves unsuccessful,
you will be ten times more wretched than ever. In my last to
you, dated Fail-field, Dec. 25, I wrote to you of the losses I had
sustained ; in the present I may mention one more, which is the
loss of the whites of my eyes, in the room of which I have got
reds, which gives me such exquisite pain that I have not at-
tempted to read anything since a few days after Jack Walker
went down, and God knows when I shall be able to do it. I
have some thoughts of going to Petersburg, if the actors go
there in May. If I do, I do not know but I may keep on to
Williamsburg, as the birth night will be near. I hear that Ben
Harrison has been to Wilton : let me know his success. Have
you an inclination to travel, Page ? because if you have, I shall
be glad of your company. For you must know that as soon
as the Rebecca (the name I intend to give the vessel above
mentioned) is completely finished, I intend to hoist sail and
away. I shall visit particularly England, Holland, France.
186 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
Spain, Italy, (where I would buy me a good fiddle,) and Egypt,
and return through the British provinces to the Northward
home. This to be sure, would take us two or three years, and
if we should not both be cured of love in that time, I think the
devil would be in it. After desiring you to remember me to
acquaintances below, male and female, I subscribe myself,
Dear Page, your friend and servant.
TO JOHN PAGE.
SHADWELL, July 15th, 1763.
DEAR PAGE, Yours of May 30th came safe to hand. The rival
you mentioned I know not whether to think formidable or not, as
there has been so great an opening for him during my absence. I
say has been, because I expect there is one no longer. Since you
have undertaken to act as my attorney, you advise me to go im-
mediately and lay siege inform. You certainly did not think,
at the time you wrote this, of that paragraph in my letter
wherein I mentioned to you my resolution of going to Britain.
And to begin an affair of that kind now, and carry it on so long
a time in form, is by no means a proper plan. No, no, Page ;
whatever assurances I may give her in private of my esteem for
her, or whatever assurances I may ask in return from her, depend
on it they must be kept in private. Necessity will oblige me to
proceed in a method which is not generally thought fair ; that of
treating with a ward before obtaining the approbation of her
guardian. I say necessity will oblige me to it, because I never
can bear to remain in suspense so long a time. If I am to suc-
ceed, the sooner I know it, the less uneasiness I shall have to go
through. If I am to meet with a disappointment, the sooner I
know it, the more of life I shall have to wear it off; and if I do
meet with one, I hope in God, and verily believe, it will be the
last. I assure you, that I almost envy you your present freedom ;
and if Belinda will not accept of my service, it shall never be
offered to another. That she may, I pray most sincerely ; but
CORRESPONDENCE. 187
that she will, she never gave me reason to hope. With regard
to my not proceeding in form, I do not know how she may like
it. I am afraid not much. That her guardians would not, if
they should know of it, is very certain. But I should think that
if they were consulted after I return, it would be sufficient. The
greatest inconvenience would be my not having the liberty of
visiting so freely. This is a subject worth your talking over
with her ; and I wish you would, and would transmit to me your
whole confab at length. I should be scared to death at making
her so unreasonable a proposal as that of waiting until I return
from Britain, unless she could first be prepared for it. I am afraid
it will make my chance of succeeding considerably worse. But
the event at last must be this, that if she consents, I shall be
happy ; if she does not, I must endeavor to be as much so as
possible. I have thought a good deal on your case, and as mine
may perhaps be similar, I must endeavor to look on it in the
same light in which I have often advised you to look on yours.
Perfect happiness, I believe, was never intended by the Deity to
be the lot of one of his creatures in this world ; but that he has
very much put in our power the nearness of our approaches to it,
is what I have steadfastly believed.
The most fortunate of us, in our journey through life, frequently
meet with calamities and misfortunes which may greatly afflict
us ; and, to fortify our minds against the attacks of these calami-
ties and misfortunes, should be one of the principal studies and
endeavors of our lives. The only method of doing this is to as-
sume a perfect resignation to the Divine will, to consider that
whatever does happen, must happen ; and that, by our uneasiness,
we cannot prevent the blow before it does fall, but we may add
to its force after it has fallen. These considerations, and others
such as these, may enable us in some measure to surmount the
difficulties thrown in our way ; to bear up with a tolerable degree
of patience under this burthen of life ; and to proceed with a
pious and unshaken resignation, till we arrive at our journey's
end, when we may deliver up our trust into the hands of him
who gave it, and receive such reward as to him shall seem pro-
188 JEFFERSON'S WOKKS.
portioned to our merit. Such, dear Page, will be the language of
the man who considers his situation in this life, and such should
be the language of every man who would wish to render that
situation as easy as the nature of it will admit. Few things will
disturb him at all : nothing will disturb him much.
If this letter was to fall into the hands of some of our gay ac-
quaintance, your correspondent and his solemn notions \\rould
probably be the subjects of a great deal of mirth and raillery, but
to you, I think, I can venture to send it. It is in effect a contin-
uation of the many conversations we have had on subjects of this
kind ; and I heartily wish we could now continue these conver-
sations face to face. The time will not be very long now before
we may do it, as I expect to be in Williamsburg by the first of
October, if not sooner. I do not know that I shall have occasion
to return, if I can rent rooms in town to lodge in ; and to prevent
the inconvenience of moving my lodgings for the future, I think
to build : no castle though, I assure you ; only a small house,
which shall contain a room for myself and another for you, and
no more, unless Belinda should think proper to favor us with her
company, in which case I will enlarge the plan as much as she
pleases. Make my compliments to her particularly, as also to
Sukey Potter, Judy Burwell, and such others of my acquaintance
as enquire after me. I am,
Dear Page, your sincere friend.
TO JOHN PAGE.
WILLIAMSBURG, October 1. 1763.
DEAR PAGE, In the most melancholy fit that ever any poor
soul was, I sit down to write to you. Last night, as merry as
agreeable company and dancing with Belinda in the Apollo could
make me, I never could have thought the succeeding sun would
have seen me so wretched as I now am ! I was prepared to say
a great deal : I had dressed up, in my own mind, such thoughts as
occurred to me, in as moving a language as I knew how, and
COKKESPONDENCE. 189
expected to have performed in a tolerably creditable manner.
* But, good God ! When I had an opportunity of venting them, a
few broken sentences, uttered in great disorder, and interrupted
with pauses of uncommon length, were the too visible marks of
my strange confusion ! The whole confab I will tell you, word
for word, if I can, when I see you, which God send may be
soon. Affairs at W. and M. are in the greatest confusion. Walker,
M'Clurg and Wat Jones are expelled pro tempore, or, as Horrox
softens it, rusticated for a month. Lewis Burwell, Warner
Lewis, and one Thompson, have fled to escape flagellation. I
should have excepted Warner Lewis, who came off of his own
accord. Jack Walker leaves town on Monday. The court is
now at hand, which I must attend constantly, so that unless you
come to town, there is little probability of my meeting with you
anywhere else. For God sake come. I am, dear Page, your
sincere friend.
TO JOHN PAGE.
DEVILSBUEG, January 19, 1764.
The contents of your letter have not a little alarmed me ; and
really, upon seriously weighing them with what has formerly
passed between and myself, I am somewhat at a loss
what to conclude; your "semper saltat, semper ridet, semper
loquitur, semper solicitat," &c., appear a little suspicious, but good
God ! it is impossible ! I told you our confab in the Apollo ; but
I believe I never told you that we had on another occasion. I
then opened my mind more freely, and more fully. I mentioned
the necessity of my going to England, and the delays which
would consequently be occasioned by that. I said in what man-
ner I should conduct myself till then, and explained my reasons,
which appears to give that satisfaction I could have wished ; in
short, I managed in such a manner that I was tolerable easy my-
self, without doing anything which could give u8 !,).* ;S* friends
the least umbrage, were the whole that passed to be related to
them. I asked no question which would admit of a categorical
190 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
answer ; but I assured advifafi that such questions would one day
be asked in short, were I to have another interview with him,
I could say nothing now which I did not say then ; and were I,
with a view of obtaining one, licentiam solidtandi aliis, quibus
degit postulare, it would be previously necessary to go the rounds
cum custodibus ; and after all this, he could be in no other situa-
tion than he is at present. After the proofs I have given of my
sincerity, he can be under no apprehension of a change in my
sentiments ; and were I to do as my friends advise me, I would
give no better security than he has at present. He is satisfied
that I shall make him an offer, and if he intends to accept of it,
he will disregard those made by others ; my fate depends on
c6vi\ei?( present resolutions, by them I must stand or fall if
they are not favorable to me, it is out of my power to say any-
thing to make them so which I have not said already ; so that a
visit could not possibly be of the least weight, and it is, I am
sure, what he does not in the least expect. I hear you are court-
ing F - y B - 1, but shall not listen to it till I hear it from
you. When I was up the country, I wrote a letter to you, dated
Fairneld, Dec. 25, 1763 ; let me know if you have received such
a one. As I suppose you do not use your Statutes of Britain, if
you can lend them to me, till I can provide myself with a copy,
it will infinitely oblige me. Adieu, dear Page.
TO GOVERNOR PAGE.
DEVII.SBURG,* January 23, 1764.
DEAR PAGE, I received your letter of Wednesday, the 18th
instant ; in that, of this day, you mention one which you wrote
last Friday, and sent by the Secretary's boy ; but I have neither
seen nor heard of such a one. God send mine of January 19 to
you may not have shared the same fate ; for, by your letter, I am
uncertain whether you have received it or not ; you therein say,
" you hope to have received an answer from me by this time,"
* From this designation of the ancient metropolis, it would seem even then to have
been no favorite with him.
CORRESPONDENCE. 191
by which I judge it has miscarried ; but you mention mine of
December 25th, which put me in spirits again, as I do not know
how you should have got intelligence that I had wrote such a
one, unless you had seen my letter of Jan. 19, in which it was
mentioned yes, there is one other way by which you might
have received such intelligence. My letter of Jan. 19 may have
been opened, and the person who did it may have been further
incited by curiosity, to ask you if you had received such a letter
as they saw mentioned therein ; but God send, and I hope this
is not the case. Sukey Potter, to whom I sent it, told me yes-
terday she delivered it to Mr. T. Nelson, the younger, who had
delivered it to you I hope with his own hand. I wish I had
followed your example, and wrote it in Latin, and that I had
called my dear campana in die* instead of atrtfap.
We must fall on some scheme of communicating our thoughts
to each other, which shall be totally unintelligible to every one
but to ourselves. I will send you some of these days Shelton's
Tachygraphical Alphabet, and directions. Jack Walker is en-
gaged to Betsey Moore, and desired all his brethren might be
made acquainted with his happiness. But I hear he will not be
married this year or two. Put campana in die in mind of me ;
tell him I think as I always did. I have sent my horses up the
country, so that it is out of my power to take even an airing on
horseback at any time. My paper holds out no longer, so must
bid you adieu.
TO JOHN PAGE.
DEVILSBURG, April, 9, 1764.
DEAR PAGE, This letter will be conveyed to you by the as-
sistance of our friend Warner Lewis. Poor fellow ! never did
* The lady here alluded to is manifestly the Miss Rebecca Burwell mentioned in
his first letter ; but what suggested the quaint designations of her is not so obvious.
In the first of them, Belinda, translated into dog Latin, which was there, as else-
where, among the facelift of young collegians, became campana in die, that is bell in
day. In the second, the name is reversed, and becomes adnileb, which, for further
security, is written in Greek characters, and the lady spoken of in the masculine
gendfer.
192 JEFFERSON'S WOEKS.
I see one more sincerely captivated in my life. He walked to
the Indian camp with her yesterday, by which means he had an
opportunity of giving her two or three love squeezes by the
hand ; and, like a true arcadian swain, has been so enraptured
ever since, that he is company for no one. B y has at last
bestowed her hand on B d ; and whether it was for money,
beauty, or principle, will be so nice a dispute, that no one will
venture to pronounce. Two days before the wedding I was not
a little surprised, on going to the door at my house, to see him
alight from his horse. He stepped up to me, and desired the
favor of me to come to Mr. Yates' at such a time. It was so
unexpected, that for some time I could make no reply ; at last, I
said " yes," and turned about and walked back into my room. I
accordingly attended, and to crown the joke, when I got there,
was dubbed a bridesman. There were many other curious cir-
cumstances too tedious to mention here. Jack Walker is ex-
pected in town to-morrow. How does your pulse beat after
your trip to the Isle of Wight ? What a high figure I should
have cut, had I gone ! When I heard who visited you there, I
thought I had met with the narrowest escape in the world. I
wonder how I should have behaved I am sure I should have
been at a great loss. If your mistress can spare you a little time,
your friends here would be very glad to see you, particularly
Small and myself, as everything is now ready for taking the
height of this place above the \vater of the creeks. Fleming's
relapse will justly afford you great matter of triumph, after rally-
ing you so much on being in love.
Adieu, dear Page.
P. S. Walker is just arrived he goes out of town on Wednes-
day, and will return again in about three weeks.
CORRESPONDENCE. 193
TO JOHN PAGE.
CUARLOTTESVILLE. Feb. 21, 1770.
DEAR PAGE, I am to acquaint Mrs. Page of the loss of my fa-
vorite pullet ; the consequence of which will readily occur to her
I promised also to give her some Virginia silk which I had ex-
pected, and I begin to wish my expectation may not prove vain.
I fear she will think me but an ungainly acquaintance. My late
loss may perhaps have reached you by this time ; I mean the
loss of my mother's house by fire, and in it of every paper I had
in the world, and almost every book. On a reasonable estimate
I calculate the cost of the books burned to have been 200
sterling. Would to God it had been the money, then had it
never cost me a sigh ! To make the loss more sensible, it fell
principally on my books of Common Law, of which I have but
one left, at that time lent out. Of papers too of every kind I
am utterly destitute. All of these, whether public or private
of business or of amusement, have perished in the flames. I
had made some progress in preparing for the succeeding General
Court ; and having, as was my custom, thrown my thoughts
into the form of notes, I troubled my head no more with them.
These are gone, and like the baseless fabric of a vision, leave
not a trace behind. The records also, and other papers which
furnished me with states of the several cases, having shared
the same fate, I have no foundation whereon to set out anew.
I have in vain attempted to recollect some of them ; the defect
sometimes of one, sometimes of more circumstances, rendering
them so imperfect that I can make nothing of them. What am
I to do then in April ? The resolution which the Court has
declared of admitting no continuances of causes seemed to be
unalterable ; yet it might surely be urged, that my case is too
singular to admit of their being often troubled with the like
excuse. Should it be asked, what are the misfortunes of an
individual to a Court ? The answer of a Court, as well as of an
individual, if left to me, should be in the words of Terence,
" homo sum ; humani nil a me alienum puto" but a truce with
this disagreeable subject.
VOL. i. 13
194 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
Am I never more to have a letter from you ? Why the devil
don't you write ? Bat I suppose you are always in the moon,
or some of the planetary regions. I mean you are there in idea ;
and, unless you mend, you shall have my consent to be there
de facto ; at least, during the vacations of the Court and Assem-
bly. If your spirit is too elevated to advert to sublunary sub-
jects, depute my friend Mrs. Page to support your correspon-
dences. Me thinks I should, with wonderful pleasure, open and
peruse a letter written by so fair, and (what is better) so friendly
hands. If thinking much of you would entitle me to the civility
of a letter, I assure you I merit a very long one. If this confla-
gration, by which I am burned out of a home, had come before
I had advanced so far in preparing another, I do not know but
I might have cherished some treasonable thoughts of leaving
these my native hills ; indeed I should be much happier were I
nearer to Rosewell and Severn hills however, the gods, I
fancy, were apprehensive that if we were placed together, we
should pull down the moon, or play some such devilish prank
with their works. I reflect often with pleasure on the philo-
sophical evenings I passed at Rosewell in my last visits there.
I was always fond of philosophy, even in its drier forms ; but
from a ruby lip, it comes with charms irresistible. Such a feast
of sentiment must exhilarate and lengthen life, at least as much
as the feast of the sensualist shortens it in a word, I prize it so
highly, that, if you will at any time collect the same Belle As-
semble, on giving me three days previous notice, I shall cer-
tainly repair to my place as a member of it. Should it not hap-
pen before I come down, I will carry Sally Nicholas in the
green chair to Newquarter, where your periagua (how the
should 1 spell that word ?) will meet us, automaton-like, of
its own accord. You know I had a wagon which moved itself
cannot we construct a boat then which shall row itself ? Ami-
cus noster, Fons* quo modo agit, et quid agit ? You may be
all dead for anything we can tell here. I expect he will follow
the good old rule of driving one passion out by letting another
* Probably Mr. William Fontaine, of Hanover county.
CORRESPONDENCE. 195
in. Clavum clavo pangere was your advice to me on a similar
occasion. I hope you will watch his immersion as narrowly as
if he were one of Jupiter's satellites ; and give me immediate
notice, that I may prepare a dish of advice. I do not mean,
Madam, to advise him against it. On the contrary, I am become
an advocate for the passion ; for I too am caelo tactus, Currus*
bene se habet. He speaks, thinks, and dreams of nothing but
his young son. This friend of ours, Page, in a very small house,
with a table, half a dozen chairs, and one or two servants, is
the happiest man in the universe. Every incident in life he so
takes as to render it a source of pleasure. With as much be-
nevolence as the heart of man will hold, but with an utter ne-
glect of the costly apparatus of life, he exhibits to the world a
new phenomenon in philosophy the Samian sage in the tub
of the cynic. Name me sometimes homunculo tuo, not forget-
ting little die mcndadum. I am determined not to enter on the
next page, lest I should extend this nonsense to the bottom of
that also. A dieujevous commas, not doubting his care of you
both. TH : JEFFERSON.
TO CHAS. McPHERSON.
ALBERMARLE, IN VIRGINIA, Feb. 25th, 1773.
DEAR SIR, Encouraged by the small acquaintance which I
had the pleasure of having contracted with you during your
residence in this country, I take the liberty of making the pres-
ent application to you. I understood you were related to the
gentleman of your name (Mr. James McPherson), to whom the
world is so much indebted for the elegant collection, arrange-
ment, and translation of Ossian's poems. These pieces have
been and will, I think, during my life, continue to be to me the
sources of daily and exalted pleasures. The tender and the
sublime emotions of the mind were never before so wrought up
by the human hand. I am not ashamed to own that I think
* By this term, he no doubt designated Mr. Dabney Carr, his brother-in-law.
196 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
this rude bard of the North the greatest poet that has ever ex-
isted. Merely for the pleasure of reading his works, I am be-
come desirous of learning the language in which he sung, and
of possessing his songs in their original form. Mr. McPherson,
I think, informs us he is possessed of the originals. Indeed, a
gentleman has lately told me he had seen them in print ; but I
am afraid he has mistaken a specimen from Temora, annexed to
some of the editions of the translation, for the whole works.
If they are printed, it will abridge my request and your trouble,
to the sending me a printed copy ; but if there be more such,
my petition is, that you would be so good as to use your inter-
est with Mr. McPherson to obtain leave to take a manuscript
copy of them, and procure it to be done. I would choose it in
a fair, round hand, on fine paper, with a good margin, bound in
parchments as elegantly as possible, lettered on the back, and
marbled or gilt on the edges of the leaves. I would not regard
expense in doing this. I would further beg the favor of you to
give me a catalogue of the books written in that language, and
to send me such of them as may be necessary for learning it.
These will, of course, include a grammar and dictionary. The
cost of these, as well as the copy of Ossian, will be (for me),
on demand, answered by Mr. Alexander McCaul, sometime of
Virginia, merchant, but now of Glasgow, or by your friend Mr.
Ninian Minzees, of Richmond, in Virginia, to whose care the
books may be sent. You can, perhaps, tell me whether we may
ever hope to see any more of those Celtic pieces published.
Manuscript copies of any which are in print, it would at any
time give me the greatest happiness to receive. The glow of
one warm thought is to me worth more than money. I hear
with pleasure from your friend that your path through life is
likely to be smoothed by success. I wish the business and the
pleasures of your situation would admit leisure now and then
to scribble a line to one who wishes you every felicity, and
would willingly merit the appellation of, dear sir,
Your friend and humble servant.
CORRESPONDENCE. 197
TO COL. A. CART.
Dec. 9th, 1774.
DEAR SIR, As I mean to be a conscientious observer of the
measures generally thought requisite for the preservation of our
independent rights, so I think myself bound to account to my
country for any act of mine which might wear an appearance
of contravening them. I, therefore, take the liberty of stating
to you the following matter, that through your friendly inter-
vention, it may be communicated to the committee of your
county. You may remember that it was about the last of May
that the House of Burgesses, after its dissolution, met in Ra-
leigh, and formed our first association against the future use of
tea only ; tho' the proceedings of the ministry against the town
of Boston were then well known to us.
I believe nobody thought at that time of extending our asso-
ciation further, to the total interruption of our commerce with
Britain ; or, if it was proposed by any (which I don't recollect),
it was condemned by the general sense of the members who
formed that association. Two or three days, therefore, after
this, I wrote to Gary & Co., of London, for fourteen pairs of
sash windows, to be sent to me ready made and glazed, with a
small parcel of spare glass to mend with. This letter went by
a ship, which sailed about the third of June, just before Power
arrived here. I did not suppose they would send them till
Power should come in again in the spring of 1775.
About the middle of June, as nearly as I can recollect, a few
of the late members were again convened (in consequence of
fresh advices from Boston), and then it was suggested that a
more extensive association might be necessary. A convention
met for that purpose the first of August, and formed a new asso-
ciation, of which I received a copy about the llth of the month.
But as a general Congress was then appointed to be held to re-
consider the same matters, and it was agreed that our association
should be subject to any alteration that they might recommend,
I did not write to countermand my order, thinking I should have
198 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
sufficient time after the final determination of the Congress
should be known, to countermand it before Power should sail
in the spring. Accordingly, within a few days after receiving a
copy of the general association, I wrote to Gary & Co. not to
send the sashes and glass which I had ordered, and gave my letter
to the care of a gentleman (Mr. Evans) just then going down-
ward, who promised to send it out speedily ; but three or four
days after I received a letter from those gentlemen, dated Au-
gust 29th, in which they inform me my window frames and glass
are ready, but that it being necessary to detain them about a
month to harden the puttying, they were not sent in that ship,
but might be expected by the next ship afterwards. From this
I conclude they may be near arriving at this time, in which case
they will come under the 1st and 10th articles of the association.
In order, therefore, that no proceeding of mine might give a
handle for traducing our measures, I thought it better previously
to lay before your committee, within whose ward they will prob-
ably be landed, a full state of the matter, by which it might be
seen under what expectations I had failed to give an earlier coun-
termand, and to show that, as they come under the prohibitions of
the Continental association, (which, without the spirit of prophe-
cy, could not have been foretold when I ordered them,) so I
mean they shall be subject to its condemnation. To your com-
mittee, therefore, if landed within their county, I submit the dis-
posal of them, which shall be obeyed as soon as made known
to their and your
Most humble servant.
Dec. 9th, 1774. A copy of this sent to Col. A. Gary, and an-
other to Col. B. Harrison, by Mr. Marrei.
TO DR. WILLIE M SMALL.
May 7, 1775.
DEAR SIR, Within this week we have received the unhappy
news of an action of considerable magnitude, between the King's
CORRESPONDENCE. 199
troops and our brethren of Boston, in which it is said five hun-
dred of the former, with the Earl of Percy, are slain. That
such an action has occurred, is undoubted, though perhaps the
circumstances may not have reached us with truth. This acci-
dnt has cut off our last hope of reconciliation, and a phrensy
of revenge seems to have seized all ranks of people. It is a
lamentable circumstance, that the only mediatory power, ac-
knowledged by both parties, instead of leading to a reconcilia-
tion his divided people, should pursue the incendiary purpose
of still blowing up the flames, as we find him constantly doing,
in every speech and public declaration. This may, perhaps, be
intended to intimidate into acquiescence, but the effect has been
most unfortunately otherwise. A little knowledge of human
nature, and attention to its ordinary workings, might have fore-
seen that the spirits of the people here were in a state, in which
they were more likely to be provoked, than frightened, by
haughty deportment. And to fill up the measure of irritation,
a proscription of individuals has been substituted in the room of
just trial. Can it be believed, that a grateful people will suffer
those to be consigned to execution, whose sole crime has been
the developing and asserting their rights ? Had the Parliament
possessed the power of reflection, they would have avoided a
measure as impotent, as it was inflammatory. When I saw
Lord Chatham's bill, I entertained high hope that a reconcilia-
tion could have been brought about. The difference between
his terms, and those offered by our Congress, might have been
accommodated, if entered on, by both parties, with a disposi-
tion to accommodate. But the dignity of Parliament, it seems,
can brook no opposition to its power. Strange, that a set of
men, who have made sale of their virtue to the Minister, should
yet talk of retaining dignity ! But I am getting into politics,
though I sat down only to ask your acceptance of the Avine,
and express my constant wishes for your happiness.
200 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
TO JOHN RANDOLPH, E3Q,.
MOXTICELLO, August 25, 1775.
DEAR SIR, I am sorry the situation of our country should
render it not eligible to you to remain longer in it. I hope the
returning wisdom of Great Britain will, ere long, put an end to
this unnatural contest. There may be people to whose tem-
pers and dispositions contention is pleasing, and who, there-
fore, wish a continuance of confusion, but to me it is of all
states but one, the most horrid. My first wish is a restoration
of our just rights ; my second, a return of the happy period,
when, consistently with duty, I may withdraw myself totally
from the public stage, and pass the rest of my days in domestic
ease and tranquillity, banishing every desire of ever hearing
what passes in the world. Perhaps (for the latter adds con-
siderably to the warmth of the former wish), looking with
fondness towards a reconciliation with Great Britain, I cannot
help hoping you may be able to contribute towards expediting
this good work. I think it must be evident to yourself, that
the Ministry have been deceived by their officers on this side
of the water, who (for what purpose I cannot tell) have con-
stantly represented the American opposition as that of a small
faction, in which the body of the people took little part. This,
you can inform them, of your own knowledge, is untrue. They
have taken it into their heads, too, that we are cowards, and
shall surrender at discretion to an armed force. The past and
future operations of the war must confirm or undeceive them
on that head. I wish they were thoroughly and minutely ac-
quainted with every circumstance relative to America, as it ex-
ists in truth. I am persuaded, this would go far towards dis-
posing them to reconciliation. Even those in Parliament who
are called friends to America, seem to know nothing of our real
determinations. I observe, they pronounced in the last Parlia-
ment, that the Congress of 1774 did not mean to insist rigor-
ously on the terms they held out, but kept something in
reserve, to give up ; and, in fact, that they would give up
CORRESPONDENCE. 201
everything but the article of taxation. Now, the truth is far
from this, as I can affirm, and put my honor to the assertion.
Their continuance in this error may, perhaps, produce very ill
consequences. The Congress stated the lowest terms they
thought possible to be accepted, in order to convince the world
they were not unreasonable. They gave up the monopoly and
regulation of trade, and all acts of Parliament prior to 1764,
leaving to British generosity to render these, at some future
time, as easy to America as the interest of Britain would admit.
But this was before blood was spilt. I cannot affirm, but have
reason to think, these terms would not now be accepted. I wish
no false sense of honor, no ignorance of our real intentions, no
vain hope that partial concessions of right will be accepted, may
induce the Ministry to trifle with accommodation, till it shall
be out of their power ever to accommodate. If, indeed, Great
Britain, disjoined from her colonies, be a match for the most po-
tent nations of Europe, with the colonies thrown into their scale,
they may go on securely. But if they are not assured of this,
it would be certainly unwise, by trying the event of another
campaign, to risk our accepting a foreign aid, which, perhaps,
may not be obtainable, but on condition of everlasting avulsion
from Great Britain. This would be thought a hard condition,
to those who still wish for re-union with their parent country.
1 am sincerely one of those, and would rather be in dependence
on Great Britain, properly limited, than on any nation on earth,
or than on no nation. But I am one of those, too, who, rather
than submit to the rights of legislating for us, assumed by the
British Parliament, and which late experience has shown they
will so cruelly exercise, would lend my hand to sink the whole
Island in the ocean.
If undeceiving the Minister, as to matters of fact, may change
his disposition, it will, perhaps, be in your power, by assisting to
do this, to render service to the whole empire, at the most criti-
cal time, certainly, that it has ever seen. Whether Britain shall
continue the head of the greatest empire on earth, or shall re-
turn to her original station in the political scale of Europe, de-
202 JEFFEKSON S WOEKS.
pends, perhaps, on the resolutions of the succeeding winter.
God send they may be wise and salutary for us all. I shall he
glad to hear from you as often as you may be disposed to think
of things here. You may be at liberty, I expect, to communi-
cate some things, consistently with your honor, and the duties
you will owe to a protecting nation. Such a communication
among individuals, may be mutually beneficial to the contend-
ing parties. On this or any future occasion, if I affirm to you
any facts, your knowledge of me will enable you to decide on
their credibility ; if I hazard opinions on the dispositions of men
or other speculative points, you can only know they are my
opinions. My best wishes for your felicity, attend you, wherever
you go, and believe me to be assuredly,
Your friend and servant.
TO JOHN RANDOLPH, ESQ..
PHILADELPHIA, November 29, 1775.
DEAR SIR, I am to give you the melancholy intelligence of
the death of our most worthy Speaker, which happened here on
the 22d of the last month. He was struck with an apoplexy,
and expired within five hours.
I have it in my power to acquaint you, that the success of our
arms has corresponded with the justice of our cause. Chambly
and St. John's were taken some weeks ago, and in them the
whole regular army in Canada, except about forty or fifty men.
This day, certain intelligence has reached us, that our General,
Montgomery, is received into Montreal ; and we expect, every
hour, to be informed that Quebec has opened its arms to Colonel
Arnold, who, with eleven hundred men, was sent from Boston
up the Kennebec, and down the Chaudiore river to that place.
He expected to be there early this month. Montreal acceded
to us on the 13th, and Carlton set out, with the shattered re-
mains of his little army, for duebec, where we hope he will be
taken up by Arnold. In a short time, we have reason to hope,
CORRESPONDENCE. 203
the delegates of Canada will join us in Congress, and complete
the American union, as far as we wish to have it completed.
We hear that one of the British transports has arrived at Bos-
ton ; the rest are heating off the coast, in very had weather.
You will have heard, before this reaches you, that Lord Dun-
more has commenced hostilities in Virginia. That people bore
with everything, till he attempted to burn the town of Hamp-
ton. They opposed and repelled him, with considerable loss on
his side, and none on ours. It has raised our countrymen into
a perfect phrensy. It is an immense misfortune, to the whole
empire, to have a King of such a disposition at such a time.
We are told, and everything proves it true, that he is the bit-
terest enemy we have. His Minister is able, arid that satisfies
me that ignorance or wickedness, somewhere, controls him. In
an earlier part of this contest, our petitions told him, that from
our King there was but one appeal. The admonition was de-
spised, and that appeal forced on us. To undo his empire, he
has but one truth more to learn ; that, after colonies have drawn
the sword, there is but one step more they can take. That step
is now pressed upon us, by the measures adopted, as if they
were afraid we would not take it. Believe me, dear Sir, there
is not in the British empire a man who more cordially loves a
union with Great Britain, than I do. But by the God that made
me, I will cease to exist before I yield to a connection on such
terms as the British Parliament propose ; and in this, I think I
speak the sentiments of America. We want neither induce-
ment nor power, to declare and assert a separation. It is will,
alone, which is wanting, and that is growing apace under the
fostering hand of our King. One bloody campaign will prob-
ably decide, everlastingly, our future course ; and I am sorry to
find a bloody campaign is decided on. If our winds and waters
should not combine to rescue their shores from slavery, and
General Howe's reinforcements should arrive in safety, we have
hopes he will be inspirited to come out of Boston and take an-
other drubbing ; and we must drub him soundly, before the
sceptred tyrant will know we are not mere brutes, to crouch
204 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
under his hand, and kiss the rod with which he designs to
scourge us.
Yours, &c.
TO RICHARD HENRY LEE.
PHILADELPHIA, July 8, 1776.
DEAR SIR, For news, I refer you to your brother, who writes
on that head. I enclose you a copy of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, as agreed to by the House, and also as originally
framed. You will judge whether it is the better or worse for
the critics. I shall return to Virginia after the llth of August.
I wish my successor may be certain to come before that time ;
in that case I shall hope to see you, and not Wythe, in Conven-
tion, that the business of Government, which is of everlasting
concern, may receive your aid.
Adieu, and believe me to be your friend and servant.
TO DR. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, PARIS.
VIRGINIA, August 13, 1777.
HONORABLE SIR, I forbear to write you news, as the time of
Mr. Shore's departure being uncertain, it might be old before you
receive it, and he can, in person, possess you of all we have.
With respect to the State of Virginia in particular, the people
seem to have laid aside the monarchical, and taken up the repub-
lican government, with as much ease as would have attended
their throwing off an old, and putting on a new suit of clothes.
Not D single throe has attended this important transformation. A
half-dozen aristocratical gentlemen, agonizing under the loss of
pre-eminence, have sometimes ventured their sarcasms on our
political metamorphosis. They have been thought fitter objects
CORRESPONDENCE. 205
of pity, than of punishment. We are, at present, in the com-
plete and quiet exercise of well-organized government, save only
that our courts of justice do not open till the fall. QUhink nothing
can bring the security of our continent and its cause into danger,
if we can support the credit of our paper. To do that, I appre-
hend, one of two steps must be taken. Either to procure free
trade by alliance with some naval power able to protect it ; or,
if we find there is no prospect of that, to shut our ports totally,
to all the world, and turn our colonies into manufactories. The
former would be most eligible, because most conformable to the
habits and wishes of our people. Were the British Court to re-
turn to their senses in time to seize the little advantage which
still remains within their reach, from this quarter, I judge, that,
on acknowledging our absolute independence and sovereignty, a
commercial treaty beneficial to them, and perhaps even a league
of mutual offence and defence, might, not seeing the expense or
consequences of such a measure, be approved by our people, if
nothing, in the mean time, done on your part, should prevent it.
But they will continue to grasp at their desperate sovereignty, till
every benefit short of that is forever out of their reach 71 I wish
my domestic situation had rendered it possible for me to join you
in the very honorable charge confided to you. Residence in a
polite Court, society of literati of the first order, a just cause and
an approving God, will add length to a life for which all men
pray, and none more than
Your most obedient and humble servant.
TO JOHN ADAMS.
ALBER:JARLE, VIRGINIA, Aug. 21, 1777.
DEAR SIR, Your favor of May 26th came safely to hand. I
wish it were in my power to suggest any remedy for the evil
you complain of ; though, did any occur, I should propose it to
you with great diffidence, after knowing you had thought on
206 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
the subject yourself. There is indeed a fact which may not
have come to your knowledge, out of which, perhaps, some
little good may be drawn. The borrowing money in Europe, or
obtaining credit there for necessaries, has already probably been
essayed, and it is supposed with some degree of success. But I
expect your applications have as yet been made only to France,
Holland, or such other States as are of principal note. There
is, however, a small power well disposed to our cause, and, as I
am informed, possessed of abilities to assist us in this way. I
speak of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. The little States of
Italy, you know, have had long peace, and show no disposition
to interrupt that peace shortly. The Grand Duke, being some-
what avaricious in his nature, has availed himself of the oppor-
tunity of collecting and hoarding what money he has been able
to gather. I am informed from good authority (an officer who
was concerned in the business of his treasury) that about three
years ago he had ten millions of crowns lying dead in his coffers.
Of this, it is thought possible as much might be borrowed as
would amount to a million of pounds lawful money. At any
rate, the attempt might be worth making. Perhaps an applica-
tion from Dr. Franklin, who has some acquaintance in that court,
might be sufficient; or as it might be prudent to sound well -be-
fore the application, in order to prevent the discredit of a rebuff,
perhaps Congress would think it worth while to send a special
agent there to negotiate the matter. I think we have a gentle-
man here, who would do it with dexterity and fidelity. He is a
native of that Duchy, well connected there, conversant in courts,
of great understanding and equal zeal in our cause. He came
over not long since to introduce the cultivation of vines, olives,
&c., among us. Should you think the matter worth a further
thought, either of the Cols. Lee's, to whom he is known, can
acquaint you more fully of his character. If the money can be
obtained in specie, it may be applied to reduce the quantity of
circulating paper, and be so managed as to help the credit of
that which will remain in circulation. If credit alone can be
obtained for the manufactures of the country, it will still help us
CORRESPONDENCE. 207
to clothe our armies, or to increase at market the necessaries our
people want.
What upon earth can Howe mean by the manoeuvre he is now
practicing ? There seems to me no object in this country which
can be either of utility or reputation to his cause. I hope it will
prove of a piece with all the other follies they have committed.
The forming a junction with the northern army up the Hudson
river, or taking possession of Philadelphia, might have been a
feather in his cap, and given them a little reputation in Europe
the former as being the design with which they came, the latter
as being a place of the first reputation abroad, and the residence
of Congress. Here he may destroy the little hamlet of Wil-
liamsburg, steal a few slaves, and lose half his army among
the fens and marshes of our lower country, or by the heat of the
climate.
I am, dear sir, yours, &c.
TO .*
WlLLIAMSBURG, VlRGIMA, June 8th, 1778.
Sm, Your letter of September 15th, 1777, from Paris, comes
safe to hand. We have not, however, had the pleasure of seeing
Mr. De Crenis, the bearer of it, in this country, as he joined the
army in Pennsylvania as soon as he arrived.
I should have taken particular pleasure in serving him on your
recommendation. From the kind anxiety expressed in your
letter, as well as from other sources of information, we discover
that our enemies have filled Europe with Thrasonic accounts of
victories they had never won and conquests they were fated
never to make. While these accounts alarmed our friends in
Europe, they afforded us diversions. We have long been out of
all fear for the event of the war. I enclose you a list of the
killed, wounded, and captives of the enemy from the commence-
ment of hostilities at Lexington, in April, 1775, until November,
* [This letter has no address.]
208 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
1777, since which time there has been no event of any conse-
quence. This is the best history of the war which can be
brought within the compass of a letter. I believe the account to
be near the truth, though it is difficult to get at the numbers lost
by an enemy with absolute precision. Many of the articles have
been communicated to us from England as taken from the official
returns made by their General. I wish it were in my power to
send you as just an account of our loss. But this cannot be done
without an application to the war office, which, being in another
county, is at this time out of my reach. I think that upon the
whole it has been about one-half the number lost by them ; in
some instances more, but in others less. This difference is as-
cribed to our superiority in taking aim when we fire ; every
soldier in our army having been intimate with his gun from his
infancy. If there could have been a doubt before as to the event
of the war, it is now totally removed by the interposition of
France, and the generous alliance she has entered into with us.
Though much of my time is employed in the councils of Amer-
ica, I have yet a little leisure to indulge my fondness for philo-
sophical studies.
I could wish to correspond with you on subjects of that kind.
It might not be unacceptable to you to be informed, for instance,
of the true power of our climate, discoverable from the thermom-
eter, from the force and direction of the winds, the quantity of
rain, the plants which grow without shelter in winter, &c. On
the other hand, we should be much pleased with cotemporary
observations on the same particulars in your country, which will
give us a comparative view of the two climates. Farenheit's
thermometer is the only one in use with us. I make my daily
observations as early as possible in the morning, and again about
four o'clock in the afternoon, generally showing the maxima of
cold and heat in the course of 24 hours. I wish I could gratify
your Botanical taste, but I am acquainted with nothing more
than the first principles of that science ; yet myself and my
friends may furnish you with any Botanical subjects which this
country affords, and are not to be had with you, and I shall take
CORRESPONDENCE. 209
pleasure in procuring them when pointed out by you. The
greatest difficulty will be the means of conveyance during the
continuance of the war.
If there is a gratification, which I envy any people in this world,
it is to your country its music. This is the favorite passion of
my soul, and fortune has cast my lot in a country where it is in a
state of deplorable barbarism. From the line of life in which we
conjecture you to be, I have for some time lost the hope of seeing
you here. Should the event prove so, I shall ask your assistance
in procuring a substitute, who may be a proficient in singing, &c.,
on the Harpsichord. I should be contented to receive such an one
two or three years hence ; when it is hoped he may come more
safely and find here a greater plenty of those useful things which
commerce alone can furnish.
The bounds of an American fortune will not admit the indul-
gence of a domestic band of musicians, yet I have thought that
a passion for music might be reconciled with that economy which
we are obliged to observe. I retain among my domestic servants
a gardener, a weaver, a cabinet-maker, and a stone-cntter, to which
I would add a vigneron. In a country where, like yours, music
is cultivated and practiced by every class of men, I suppose there
might be found persons of these trades who could perform on the
French horn, clarinet, or hautboy, and bassoon, so that one might
have a band of two French horns, two clarinets, two hautboys,
and a bassoon, without enlarging their domestic expenses. A
certainty of employment for a half dozen years, and at the end
of that time, to find them, if they chose, a conveyance to their
own country, might induce them to come here on reasonable
wages. Without meaning to give you trouble, perhaps it might
be practicable for you, in your ordinary intercourse with your
people, to find out such men disposed to come to America. So-
briety and good nature would be desirable parts of their characters.
If you think such a plan practicable, and will be so kind as to
inform me what will be necessary to be done on my part, I will
take care that it shall be clone. The necessary expenses, when
informed of them, I can remit before they are wanting, to any
VOL. i. 14
210 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
port in France, with which country alone we have safe correspon-
lencc; I am, Sir, with much esteem, your humble servant
TO DAVID RITTENHOUSE.
MONTICELLO IN At-BEMARLE, V~A., JlILY 19, 1778.
DEAR SIR, I sincerely congratulate you on the recovery of
Philadelphia, and wish it may be found uninjured by the enemy.
How far the interests of literature may have suffered by the in-
jury, or removal of the Orrery, (as it is miscalled,) the public
libraries, your papers and implements, are doubts which still ex-
cite anxiety. We were much disappointed in Virginia generally,
on the day of the great eclipse, which proved to be cloudy.
In Williamsburg, where it was total, I understood only the
beginning was seen. At this place, which is lat. 38 8', and
longitude west from Williamsburg, about 1 45', as is conjectured,
11 digits only were supposed to be covered. It was not seen at
all until the moon had advanced nearly one-third over the sun's
disc. Afterwards it was seen at intervals through the whole.
The egress particularly was visible. It proved, however, of little
use to me, for want of a time piece that could be depended on,
which circumstance, together with the subsequent restoration of
Philadelphia to you, has induced me to trouble you with this letter,
to remind you of your kind promise of making me an accurate
clock, which, being intended for astronomical purposes only, I
would have divested of all apparatus for striking, or for any
other purpose, which, by increasing its complication, might dis-
turb its accuracy. A companion to it for keeping seconds, and
which might be moved easily, would greatly add to its value.
The Theodolite, for which I also spoke to you, I can now dis-
pense with, having since purchased a most excellent one.
TO JOHN PAGE.
WIU.IAMSBURG, January 22, 1779.
DEAR PAGE, I received your letter by Mr. Jamieson. It had
given me much pain, that the zeal of our respective friends should
CORRESPONDENCE. 211
ever have placed you and me in the situation of competitors. . I
was comforted, however, with the reflection, that it was their
competition, not ours, and that the difference of the numbers
which decided between us, was too insignificant to give you a
pain, or me a pleasure, had our dispositions towards each other
been such as to admit those sensations. I know you too well to
need an apology for anything you do, and hope you will forever
be assured of this ; and as to the constructions of the world, they
would only have added one to the many sins for which they
are to go to the devil. As this is the first, I hope it will be the
last, instance of ceremony between us. A desire to see my
family, which is in Charles City, carries me thither to-morrow,
and I shall not return till Monday. Be pleased to present my
compliments to Mrs. Page, and add this to the assurances I have
ever given you, that I am, dear Page, your affectionate friend.
TO GEORGE WTTHE.
FOREST, March 1, 1*779.
DEAR SIR, Since I left you, I have reflected on the bill
regulating the practising of attornies, and of our omitting to
continue the practitioners at the County and General Courts
separate. I think the bar of the General Court a proper and
excellent nursery for future judges, if it be so regulated that
science may be encouraged, and may live there. But this can
never be if an inundation of insects is permitted to come from
the county courts, and consume the harvest. These people,
traversing the counties, seeing the clients frequently at their
own courts, or, perhaps, at their own houses, must of necessity
pick up all the business. The convenience of frequently seeing
their counsel, without going from home, cannot be withstood
by the country people. Men of science, then, if there were to
be any, would only be employed as auxiliary counsel in diffi-
cult cases. But can they live by that ? Certainly not. The
present members of that kind, therefore, must turn marauders in
the county courts, and, in future, none will have leisure to ac-
quire science. I should therefore be for excluding the county
212 JEFFERSON'S WOKKS.
court attornies ; or rather, for taking the general court lawyers
from the incessant drudgery of the county courts and confining
them to their studies, that they may qualify themselves as well
to support their clients, as to become worthy successors to the
bench. I hope to see the time when the election of judges of
the Supreme Courts shall be restrained to the bars of the Gen-
eral Court and High Court of Chancery ; for when I speak of
the former above, I mean to include the latter. I should, even
in our present bill, have no objection to inserting such a restric-
tion to take place seven or fourteen years hence. Adieu.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY PATRICK HENRY.
ALBEMARLK, March 27, 1779.
SIR, A report prevailing here, that in consequence of some
powers from Congress, the Governor and Council have it in con-
templation to remove the Convention troops,* either wholly or in
part, from their present situation, I take the liberty of troubling
you with some observations on that subject. The reputation and
interest of our country, in general, may be affected by such a
measure : it would, therefore, hardly be deemed an indecent lib-
erty in the most private citizen, to offer his thoughts to the con-
sideration of the Executive. The locality of my situation, par-
ticularly in the neighborhood of the present barracks, and the
public relation in which I stand to the people among whom they
are situated, together with a confidence which a personal knowl-
edge of the members of the Executive gives me, that they will
be glad of information from any quarter, on a subject interesting
to the public, induce me to hope that they will acquit me of im-
propriety in the present representation.
By an article in the Convention of Saratoga, it is stipulated,
on the part of the United States, that the officers shall not be
separated from their men. I suppose the term officers, includes
[* The troops under Burgoyne, captured at Saratoga.]
CORRESPONDENCE. 213
general as well as regimental officers. As there are general offi-
cers who command all the troops, no part of them can be sepa-
rated from these officers without a violation of the article : they
cannot, of course, be separated from one another, unless the same
general officer could be in different places at the same time. It
is true, the article adds the words, " as far as circumstances will
admit." This was a necessary qualification ; because, in no
place in America, I suppose, could there have been found quar-
ters for both officers and men together ; those for the officers to
be according to their rank. So far, then, as the circumstances
of the place where they should be quartered, should render a
separation necessary, in order to procure quarters for the officers,
according to their rank, the article admits that separation. And
these are the circumstances which must have been under the
contemplation of the parties ; both of whom, and all the world
beside (who are ultimate judges in the case), would still under-
stand that they were to be as near in the environs of the camp,
as convenient quarters could be procured ; and not that the qual-
ification of the article destroyed the article itself, and laid it
wholly at our discretion. Congress, indeed, have admitted of
this separation ; but are they so far lords of right and wrong as
that our consciences may be quiet with their dispensation ? Or
is the case amended by saying they leave it optional in the Gov-
ernor and Council to separate the troops or not ? At the same
time that it exculpates not them, it is drawing the Governor and
Council into a participation in the breach of faith. If indeed it
is only proposed, that a separation of the troops shall be referred
to the consent of their officers ; that is a very different matter.
Having carefully avoided conversation with them on public sub-
jects, I cannot say, of my own knowledge, how they would relish
such a proposition. I have heard from others, that they will
choose to undergo anything together, rather than to be separated,
and that they will remonstrate against it in the strongest terms.
The Executive, therefore, if voluntary agents in this measure,
must be drawn into a paper war with them, the more disagree-
able, as it seems that faith and reason will be on the other side.
214 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
As an American, I cannot help feeling a thorough mortification,
that our Congress should have permitted an infraction of our pub-
lic honor ; as a citizen of Virginia, I cannot help hoping and
confiding, that our Supreme Executive, whose acts will be con-
sidered as the acts of the Commonwealth, estimate that honor too
highly to make its infraction their own act. I may be permitted
to hope, then, that if any removal takes place, it will be a gen-
eral one ; and, as it is said to be left to the Governor and Coun-
cil to determine on this, I am satisfied that, suppressing every
other consideration, and weighing the matter dispassionately, they
will determine upon this sole question, Is it for the benefit of
those for whom they act, that the Convention troops should be
removed from among them ? Under the head of interest, these
circumstances, viz., the expense of building barracks, said to
have been 25,000, and of removing the troops backwards and
forwards, amounting to, I know not how much, are not to be pre-
termitted, merely because they are Continental expenses ; for we
are a part of the Continent ; we must pay a shilling of every dol-
lar wasted. But the sums of money which, by these troops, or
on their account, are brought into, and expended in this State,
are a great and local advantage. This can require no proof. If,
at the conclusion of the war, for instance, our share of the Con-
tinental debt should be twenty millions of dollars, or say that we
are called on to furnish an annual quota of two millions four
hundred thousand dollars, to Congress, to be raised by tax, it is
obvious that we should raise these given sums with greater or
less ease, in proportion to the greater or less quantity of money
found in circulation among us. I expect that our circulating mo-
ney is, by the presence of these troops, at the rate of $30,000 a
week, at the least. I have heard, indeed, that an objection arises
to their being kept within this State, from the information of
the commissary that they cannot be subsisted here. In attend-
ing to the information of that officer, it should be borne in mind
that the county of King William and its vicinities are one thing,
the territory of Virginia another. If the troops could be fed
upon long letters, I believe the gentleman at the head of that de-
CORRESPONDENCE. 215
partment in this country, would be the best commissary upon
earth. But till I see him determined to act, not to write ; to
sacrifice his domestic ease to the duties of his appointment, and
apply to the resources of this country, wheresoever they are to
be had, I must entertain a different opinion of him. I am mis-
taken if, for the animal subsistence of the troops hitherto, we
are not principally indebted to the genius and exertions of
Hawkins, during the very short time he lived after his appoint-
ment to that department, by your board. His eye immediately
pervaded the whole State, it was reduced at once to a regular
machine, to a system, and the whole put into movement and
animation by the fiat of a comprehensive mind. If the Com-
monwealth of Virginia cannot furnish these troops with bread,
I would ask of the commissariat, which of the thirteen is now
become the grain colony ? If we are in danger of famine from
the addition of four thousand mouths, what is become of that
surplus of bread, the exportation of which used to feed the
West Indies and Eastern States, and fill the colony with hard
money ? When I urge the sufficiency of this State, however,
to subsist these troops, I beg to be understood, as having in con-
templation the quantity of provisions necessary for their real
use, and not as calculating what is to be lost by the wanton
waste, mismanagement, and carelessness of those employed
about it. If magazines of beef and pork are suffered to rot by
slovenly butchering, or for want of timely provision and sale ;
if quantities of flour are exposed, by the commissaries entrusted
with the keeping it, to pillage and destruction ; and if, when
laid up in the Continental stores, it is still to be embezzled and
sold, the land of Egypt itself would be insufficient for their
supply, and their removal would be necessary, not to - a more
plentiful country, but to more able and honest commissaries.
Perhaps the magnitude of this question, and its relation to the
whole State, may render it worth while to await the opinion of
the National Council, which is now to meet within a few weeks.
There is no danger of distress in the meantime, as the commis-
saries affirm they have a great sufficiency of provisions for some
216 JEFFEKSON'S WORKS.
time to come. Should the measure of removing them into an-
other State be adopted, and carried into execution, before the
meeting of Assembly, no disapprobation of theirs will bring
them back, because they will then be in the power of others,
who will hardly give them up.
Want of information as to what may be the precise measure
proposed by the Governor and Council, obliges me to shift my
ground, and take up the subject in every possible form. Perhaps,
they have not thought to remove the troops out of this State alto-
gether, but to some other part of it. Here, the objections arising
from the expenses of removal, and of building new barracks, recur.
As to animal food, it may be driven to one part of the country as
easily as to another : that circumstance, therefore, may be thrown
out of the question. As to bread, I suppose they will require
about forty or forty-five thousand bushels of grain a year. The
place to which it is to be brought to them, is about the centre of
the State. Besides, that the country round about is fertile, all
the grain made in the counties adjacent to any kind of navigation,
may be brought by water to within twelve miles of the spot. For
these twelve miles, wagons must be employed ; I suppose half a
dozen will be a plenty. Perhaps, this part of the expense mjght
have been saved, had the barracks been built on the water ; but
it is not sufficient to justify their being abandoned now they are
built. Wagonage, indeed, seems to the commissariat an article
not worth economising. The most wanton and studied circuity of
transportation has been practised : to mention only one act, they
have bought quantities of flour for these troops in Cumberland,
have ordered it to be wagoned down to Manchester, and wagoned
thence up to the barracks. This fact happened to fall within my
own knowledge. I doubt not there are many more such, in order
either to produce their total removal, or to run up the expenses of
the present situation, and satisfy Congress that the nearer they are
brought to the commissary's own bed, the cheaper they will be
subsisted. The grain made in the western counties may be
brought partly in wagons, as conveniently to this as to any other
place ; perhaps more so, on account of its vicinity to one of the
CORRESPONDENCE. 217
best passes through the Blue Ridge ; and partly by water, as it is
near to James river, to the navigation of which, ten counties are
adjacent above the falls. When I said that the grain might be
brought hither from all the counties of the State adjacent to navi-
gation, I did not mean to say it would be proper to bring it from
all. On the contrary, I think the commissary should be instructed,
after the next harvest, not to send one bushel of grain to the
barracks from below the falls of the rivers, or from the northern
counties. The counties on tide water are accessible to the calls
for our own army. Their supplies ought, therefore, to be hus-
banded for them. The counties in the northwestern parts of the
State are not only within reach for our own grand army, but pecu-
liarly necessary for the support of Macintosh's army ; or for the
support of any other northwestern expedition, which the uncertain
conduct of the Indians should render necessary ; insomuch, that if
the supplies of that quarter should be misapplied to any other pur-
pose, it would destroy, in embryo, every exertion, either for par-
ticular or general safety there. The counties above tide water,
in the middle and southern and western parts of the country, are
not accessible to calls for either of those purposes, but at such an
expense of transportation as the article would not bear. Here,
then, is a great field, whose supplies of bread cannot be carried
to our army, or rather, which will raise no supplies of bread, be-
cause there is nobody to eat them. Was it not, then, wise in
Congress to remove to that field four thousand idle mouths, who
must otherwise have interfered with the pasture of our own troops ?
And, if they are removed to any other part of the country, will
it not defeat this wise purpose ? The mills on the waters of
James river, above the falls, open to canoe navigation, are very
many. Some of them are of great note, as manufacturers. The
barracks are surrounded by mills. There are five or six round
about Charlottesville. Any two or three of the whole might, in
the course of the winter, manufacture flour sufficient for the year.
To say the worst, then, of this situation, it is but twelve miles
wrong. The safe custody of these troops is another circumstance
worthy consideration. Equally removed from the access of an
218 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
eastern or western enemy ; central to the whole State, so that,
should they attempt an irruption in any direction, they must pass
through a great extent of hostile country ; in a neighborhood
thickly inhabited by a robust and hardy people, zealous in the
American cause, acquainted with the use of arms, and the denies
and passes by which they must issue : it would seem, that in this
point of view, no place could have been better chosen.
Their health is also of importance. I would not endeavor to
show that their lives are valuable to us, because it would suppose
a possibility, that humanity was kicked out of doors in America,
and interest only attended to. The barracks occupy the top and
brow of a very high hill, (you have been untruly told they were
in a bottom.) They are free from fog, have four springs which
seem to be plentiful, one within twenty yards of the piquet, two
within fifty yards, and another within two hundred and fifty, and
they propose to sink wells within the piquet. Of four thousand
people, it should be expected, according to the ordinary calcula-
tions, that one should die every day. Yet, in the space of near
three months, there have been but four deaths among them ; two
infants under three weeks old, and two others by apoplexy. The
officers tell me, the troops were never before so healthy since they
were embodied.
But is an enemy so execrable, that, though in captivity, his
wishes and comforts are to be disregarded and even crossed ? I
think not. It is for the benefit of mankind to mitigate the hor-
rors of war as much as possible. The practice, therefore, of
modern nations, of treating captive enemies with politeness and
generosity, is not only delightful in contemplation, but really in-
teresting to all the world, friends, foes and neutrals. Let us apply
this : the officers, after considerable hardships, have all procured
quarters, comfortable and satisfactory to them. In order to do
this, they were obliged, in many instances, to hire houses for a
year certain, and at such exorbitants rents, as were sufficient to
tempt independent owners to go out of them, and shift as they
could. These houses, in most cases, were much out of repair.
They have repaired them at a considerable expense. One of
CORRESPONDENCE. 219
the general officers has taken a place for two years, advanced the
rent for the whole time, and been obliged, moreover, to erect ad-
ditional buildings for the accommodation of part of his family,
for which there was not room in the house rented. Independent
of the brick work, for the carpentry of these additional build-
ings, I know he is to pay fifteen hundred dollars. The same
gentleman, to my knowledge, has paid to one person three thou-
sand six hundred and seventy dollars for different articles to fix
himself commodiously. They have generally laid in their stocks
of grain and other provisions, for it is well known that officers
do not live on their rations. They have purchased cows, sheep,
&c., set in to farming, prepared their gardens, and have a pros-
pect of comfort and quiet before them. To turn to the soldiers :
the environs of the barracks are delightful, the ground cleared,
laid off in hundreds of gardens, each enclosed in its separate
paling ; these well prepared, and exhibiting a fine appearance.
General Riedezel alone laid out upwards of two hundred pounds
in garden seeds for the German troops only. Judge what an
extent of ground these seeds would cover. There is little doubt
that their own gardens will furnish them a great abundance of
vegetables through the year. Their poultry, pigeons and other
preparations of that kind, present to the mind the idea of a com-
pany of farmers, rather than a camp of soldiers. In addition to
the barracks built for them by the public, and now very com-
fortable, they have built great numbers for themselves, in such
messes as fancied each other ; and the whole corps, both officers
and men, seem now happy and satisfied with their situation.
Having thus found the art of rendering captivity itself comforta-
ble, and carried it into execution, at their own great expense and
labor, their spirits sustained by the prospect of gratifications rising
before their eyes, does not every sentiment of humanity revolt
against the proposition of stripping them of all this, and remov-
ing them into new situations, where, from the advanced season
of the year, no preparations can be made for carrying themselves
comfortably through the heats of summer ; and when it is known
that the necessary advances for the conveniences already pro-
220 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
vided, have exhausted their funds and left them unable to make
the like exertions anew. Again, review this matter, as it may
regard appearances. A body of troops, after staying a twelve-
month at Boston, are ordered to take a march of seven hundred
miles to Virginia, where, it is said, they may be plentifully sub-
sisted. As soon as they are there, they are ordered on some other
march, because, in Virginia, it is said, they cannot be subsisted.
Indifferent nations will charge this either to ignorance, or to whim
and caprice ; the parties interested, to cruelty. They now view
the proposition in that light, and it is said, there is a general and
firm persuasion among them, that they were marched from Bos-
ton with no other purpose than to harass and destroy them with
eternal marches. Perseverance in object, though not by the most
direct way, is often more laudable than perpetual changes, as
often as the object shifts light. A character of steadiness in our
councils, is worth more than the subsistence of four thousand
people.
There could not have been a more unlucky concurrence of cir-
cumstances than when these troops first came. The barracks
were unfinished for want of laborers, the spell of weather the
worst ever known within the memory of man, no stores of bread
laid in, the roads, by the weather and number of wagons, soon
rendered impassable : not only the troops themselves were greatly
disappointed, but the people in the neighborhood were alarmed at
the consequences which a total failure of provisions might pro-
duce. In this worst state of things, their situation was seen by
many and disseminated through the country, so as to occasion a
general dissatisfaction, which even seized the minds of reason-
able men, who, if not affected by the contagion, must have fore-
seen that the prospect must brighten, and that great advantages
to the people must necessarily arise. It has, accordingly, so hap-
pened. The planters, being more generally sellers than buyers,
have felt the benefit of their presence in the most vital part
about them, their purses, and are now sensible of its source. I
have too good an opinion of their love of order to believe that a
removal of these troops would produce any irregular proofs of their
CORRESPONDENCE. 221
disapprobation, but I am well assured it would be extremely
odious to them.
To conclude. The separation of these troops would be a
breach of public faith, therefore I suppose it is impossible ; if
they are removed to another State, it is the fault of the commis-
saries ; if they are removed to any other part of the State, it is the
fault of the commissaries ; and in both cases, the public interest
and public security suffer, the comfortable and plentiful subsist-
ence of our own army is lessened, the health of the troops ne-
glected, their wishes crossed, and their comforts torn from them,
the character of whim and caprice, or, what is worse, of cruelty,
fixed on us as a nation, and, to crown the whole, our own peo-
ple disgusted with such a proceeding.
I have thus taken the liberty of representing to you the facts
and the reasons, which seem to militate against the separation or
removal of these troops. I am sensible, however, that the same
subject may appear to different persons, in very different lights.
What I have urged as reasons, may, to sounder minds, be appa-
rent fallacies. I hope they will appear, at least, so plausible, as
to excuse the interposition of
Your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant,
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
WILUAMSBUUG, June 23, 1779.
SIR, I have the pleasure to enclose you the particulars of
Colonel Clarke's success against St. Vincennes, as stated in his
letter but lately received ; the messenger, with his first letter,
having been killed. I fear it will be impossible for Colonel
Clarke to be so strengthened, as to enable him to do what he de-
sires. Indeed, the express who brought this letter, gives us
reason to fear St. Vincennes is in danger from a large body of
Indians collected to attack it, and said, when he came from Kas-
kaskias, to be within thirty leagues of the place. I also enclose
JEFFERSON'S "WORKS.
you a letter from Colonel Shelby, stating the effect of his success
against the seceding Cherokees, and Chuccamogga. The damage
done them, was killing half a dozen, burning eleven towns, twen-
ty thousand bushels of corn, collected probably to forward the ex-
peditions which were to have been planned at the council which
was to meet Governor Hamilton at the mouth of the Tennes-
see, and taking as many goods as sold for twenty-five thousand
pounds. I hope these two blows coming together, and the de-
priving them of their head, will, in some measure, effect the
quiet of our frontiers this summer. We have intelligence, also,
that Colonel Bowman, from Kentucky, is in the midst of the
Shawnee country, with three hundred men, and hope to hear a
good account of him. The enclosed order, being in its nature
important, and generally interesting, I think it proper to transmit
it to you, with the reasons supporting it.* It will add much to
our satisfaction, to know it meets your approbation.
I have the honor to be, with every sentiment of private respect
and public gratitude,
Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,
P. S. The distance of our northern and western counties,
TO THE GOVERN'OR OF VIRGINIA.
KASKASKIAS, ILLINOIS, April 29, 1779.
DEAR SIR, A few days ago, I received certain intelligence of William Morris, mj
express to you, being killed near the falls of Ohio ; news truly disagreeable to me, as
I fear many of my letters will fall into the hands of the enemy, at Detroit, although
Eomeof them, as I learn, were found in the woods torn in pieces. I do not doubt but
before the receipt of his, you will have heard of my late success against Governor
Hamilton, at post St. Vincennes. That gentleman, with a body of men, possessed
himself of that post on the 15th of December last, repaired the fortifications for a re-
pository, and in the spring, meant to attack this place, which he made no doubt of
carrying; where he was to be joined by two hundred Indians from Michilimackinac,
and five hundred Cherokees, Chickasaws, and other nations. With this body, he was
to penetrate up the Ohio to Fort Pitt, sweeping Kentucky on his way, having light
bras-s cannon for the purpose, joined on his march by all the Indians that could be got
to him. He made no doubt, that he could force all West Augusta. This expedition
was ordered by the commander-in-chief of Canada, Destruction seemed to hover
over us from every quarter ; detached parties of the enemy were in the neighborhood
CORRESPONDENCE. 223
from the scene of southern service, and the necessity of strength-
ening our western quarter, have induced the Council to direct
the new levies from the counties of Yohogania, Ohio, Monon-
galia, Frederick, Hampshire, Berkeley, Rockingham, and Green-
brier, amounting to somewhat less than three hundred men, to
every day, but afraid to attack. I ordered Major Bowman to evacuate the fort at the
Cohas, aud join me immediately, which he did. Having not received a scrape of a
pen from you, for near twelve months, I could see but little probability of keeping
possession of the country, as my number of men was too small to stand a siege, and
my situation too remote to call for assistance. I made .all the preparations I possibly
could for the attack, and was necessitated to set fire to some of the houses in toAvn, to
clear them out of the way. But in the height of the hurry, a Spanish merchant, who
had been at St. Vincennes, arrived, and gave the following intelligence : that Mr.
Hamilton had weakened himself, by sending his Indians against the frontiers, and to
block up the Ohio ; that he had not more than eighty men in garrison, three pieces
of cannon, and some swivels mounted ; and that he intended to attack this place, as
soon as the winter opened, and made no doubt of clearing the western waters by the
fall. My situation and circumstances induced me to fall on the resolution of attacking
him, before he could collect his Indians again. I was sensible the resolution was as
desperate as my situation, but I saw no other probability of securing the country. I
immediately despatched a small galley, which I had fitted up, mounting two four
pounders and four swivels, with a company of men and necessary stores on board,
with orders to force her way, if possible, and station herself a few miles below the
enemy, suffer nothing to pass her, and wait for further orders. In the meantime, I
marched across the country with one hundred and thirty men, being all I could raise,
after leaving this place garrisoned by the militia. The inhabitants of the country be-
haved exceedingly well, numbers of young men turned out on the expedition, and
every other one embodied to guard the different towns. I marched the 7th of
February. Although so small a body, it took me sixteen days on the route. The in-
clemency of the season, high waters, <fcc., seemed to threaten the loss of the expedition.
When within three leagues of the enemy, in a direct line, it took us five days to cross
the drowned lands of the W abash river, having to wade often, upwards of two
leagues, to our breast in water. Had not the weather been warm, we must have
perished. But on the evening of the 23d, we got on dry land, in sight of the enemy;
and at seven o'clock, made the attack, before they knew anything of us. The town
immediately surrendered with joy, and assisted in the seige. There was a continual
fire on both sides, for eighteen hours. I had no expectation of gaining the fort until
the arrival of my artillery. The moon setting about, one o'clock, I had an entrench-
ment thrown up within rifle shot of their strongest battery, and poured such showers
of well-directed balls into their ports, that we silenced two pieces of cannon in fifteen
minutes, without getting a man hurt.
Governor Hamilton and myself had, on the following day, several conferences, but
did not agree until the evening, when he agreed to surrender the garrison (seventy-
Dine in number) prisoners of war, with considerable stores. I got only one ir.an
224 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
enter into the ninth regiment at Pittsburg. The aid they may
give there, will be so immediate and important, and what they
could do to the southward, would be so late, as, I hope, will
apologise for their interference.
T. J.
wounded ; not being able to lose many, I made them secure themselves well. Seven
were badly wounded in the fort, through the ports. In the height of this action, an
Indian party that had been to war, and taken two prisoners, came in, not knowing
of us. Hearing of them, I despatched a party to give them battle in the commons,
and got nine of them, with the two prisoners, who proved to be Frenchmen. Hearing
of a convoy of goods from Detroit, I sent a party of sixty men, in armed boats well
mounted with swivels, to meet them, before they could receiye any intelligence.
They met the convoy forty leagues up the river, and made a prize of the whole,
taking forty prisoners and about ten thousand pounds worth of goods and provisions ;
also, the mail from Canada to Governor Hamilton, containing, however, no news of
importance. But what crowned the general joy, was the arrival of William Morris,
my express to you, with your letters, which gave general satisfaction. The soldiery,
being made sensible of the gratitude of their country for their services, were so much
elated, that they would have attempted the reduction of Detroit, had I ordered them.
Having more prisoners than I knew what to do with, I was obliged to discharge a
greater part of them, on parole. Mr. Hamilton, his principal officers and a few sol-
diers, I have sent to Kentucky, under a convoy of Captain Williams, in order to be
conducted to you. After despatching Morris with letters to you, treating with the
neighboring Indians, &c., I returned to this place, leaving a sufficient garrison at St.
Viucennes.
During my absence, Captain Robert George, who now commands the company
formerly commanded by Captain Willing, had returned from New Orleans, which
greatly added to our strength. It gave great satisfaction to the inhabitants, when
acquainted with the protection which was given them, the alliance with France, &c.
I am impatient for the arrival of Colonel Montgomery, but have heard nothing of him
lately. By your instructions to me, I find you put no confidence in General M'ln-
tosh's taking Detroit, as you encourage me to attempt it, if possible. It had been
twice in my power. Had I been able to raise only five hundred men when I first ar-
rived in the country, or when I was at St. Vincennes, could I have secured my prison-
ers, and only have had three hundred good men, I should have attempted it, and
since learn there could have been no doubt of success, as by some gentlemen lately
from that post, we are informed that the town and country kept three days in feast
ing and diversions, on hearing of my success against Mr. Hamilton, and were so cer-
tain of my embracing the fair opportunity of possessing myself of that post, that
the merchants and others provided many necessaries for us on our arrival ; the gar-
rison, consisting of only eighty men, not daring to stop their diversions. They are
now completing a new fort, and I fear too strong for any force I shall ever be able to
raise in this country. We are proud to hear Congress intends putting their forces on
the frontiers, under your direction. A small army from Pittsburg, conducted with
spirit, may easily take Detroit, and put an end to the Indian war. Those Indians
CORRESPONDENCE. 225
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
WiLMAMsBuac, July 17, 170'.).
SIR, I some time ago, enclosed to you a printed copy of an
order of Council, by which Governor Hamilton was to be con-
who are active against us, are the six nations, part of tlie Shawnese, the Meamonies,
and about half the Chesawey-s Ottawas, Jowaas, and Pottawatimas nations, border-
ing on the lakes. Those nations who have treated with me, have behaved since very
well ; to wit, the Peaukishaws, Kiccapoos, Orcaottenans of the Wabash river, the
Kaskias, Perrians, Mecljigamies, Foxes, Socks, Opays, Illinois and Poues, nations of
the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. Part of the Chessaweys have also treated, and
are peaceable. I continually keep agents among them, to watch their motions and
keep them peaceably inclined. Many of the Cherokees, Chickasaws, and their con-
federates, are, I fear, ill disposed. It would be well if Colonel Montgomery should
give them a dressing, as he comes down the Tennessee. There can be no peace ex-
pected from many nations, while the English are at Detroit. I strongly suspect they
will turn their arms against the Illinois, as they will be encouraged. I shall always
be on my guard, watching every opportunity to take the advantage of the enemy,
and, if I am ever able to muster six or seven hundred men, I shall give them a
shorter distance to come and fight me, than at this place.
There is one circumstance very distressing, that of our 'moneys being discredited,
to all intents and purposes, by the great number of traders who come here in my
absence, each outbidding the other, giving prices unknown in this country by five
hundred per cent., by which the people conceived it to be of no value, and both
French and Spaniards refused to take a farthing of it. Provision is three times the
price it was two months past, and to be got by no other means than my own bonds,
goods, or force. Several merchants are now advancing considerable sums of their
own property, rather than the service should suffer, by which I am sensible they
must lose greatly, unless some method is taken to raise the credit of our coin, or
a fund be sent to Orleans, for the payment of the expenses of this place, which
would at once reduce the price of every species of provision ; money being of little
service to them, unless it would pass at the ports they trade at. I mentioned to you,
my drawing some bills on Mr. Pollock in New Orleans, as I had no money with me.
He would accept the bills, but had not money to pay them off, though the sums were
trifling ; so that we have little credit to expect from that quarter. I shall take every
step I possibly can, for laying up a sufficient quantity of provisions, and hope you
will immediately send me an express with your instructions. Public expenses in
this country, have hitherto been very low, and may still continue so, if a corre-
spondence is fixed at New Orleans for payment of expenses in this country, or gold
and silver sent. I am glad to hear of Colonel Todd's appointment. I think govern
ment has taken the only step they could have done, to make this country flourish,
and be of service to them. No other regulation would have suited the people. The
last account I had of Colonel Rogers, was his being in New Orleans, with six of his
men. The rest he left at the Spanish Ozack, above the Natches. I shall imme-
diately send him some provisions, as I luarn he is in great want. I doubt, he will
VOL. I. 15
226 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
fined in irons, in close jail, which has occasioned a letter from
General Phillips, of which the enclosed is a copy The General
seems to think that a prisoner on capitulation, cannot be put in
close confinement, though his capitulation should not have pro-
vided against it. My idea was, that all persons taken in war,
not be able to get his goods up the river except in Spanish bottoms. One regiment
would be able to clear the Mississippi, and do great damage to the British interests
in Florida, and, by properly conducting themselves, might perhaps gain the affection
of the people, so as to raise a sufficient force to give a shock to Pensacola. Our
alliance with France has entirely devoted this people to our interest. I have sent
several copies of the articles to Detroit, and do not doubt but they will produce
the desired effect. Your instructions I shall pay implicit regard to, and hope to
conduct myself in such a manner as to do honor to my country.
I am, with the greatest respect, your humble servant,
G. R. CLAEKE.
P. S. I understand there is a considerable quantity of cannon ball at Pittsburg.
We are much in want of four and six pound ball. I hope you will immediately order
some down.
IN COUNCIL, June 18, 1779.
The board proceeded to the consideration of the letters of Colonel Clarke, and
other papers relating to Henry Hamilton, Esq., who has acted for some years past as
Lieutenant Governor of the settlement at and .about Detroit, and commandant of the
British garrison there, under Sir Guy Carluton, as Governor-in-chief ; Philip Dejean
justice of the peace for Detroit, and William Lamothe, captain of volunteers, pris-
oners of war, taken in the county of Illinois.
They find, that Governor Hamilton has executed the task of inciting the Indians to
perpetrate their accustomed cruelties on the citizens of the United States, without
distinction of age, sex, or condition, with an eagerness and avidity which evince, that
the general nature of his charge harmonized with his particular disposition. They
should have been satisfied, from the other testimony adduced, that these enormities
were committed by savages acting under his commission ; but the number of procla-
mations which, at different times, were left in houses, the inhabitants of which were
killed or carried away by the Indians, one of which proclamations is in possession of
the board, under the hand and seal of Governor Hamilton, puts this fact beyond a
doubt. At the time of his captivity, it appears, he had sent considerable bodies of
Indians against the frontier settlements of these States, and had actually appointed
a great council of Indians, to meet him at Tennessee, to concert the operations of
this present campaign. They find that his treatment of our citizens and soldiers,
taken and carried within the limits of his command, has been cruel and inhuman ;
that in the case of John Dodge, a citizen of these States, which has been particularly
stated to this board, he loaded him with irons, threw him into a dungeon, without
bedding, without straw, without fire, in the dead of winter and severe climate of De-
CORRESPONDENCE. 227
were to be deemed prisoners of war. That those who surrender
on capitulation (or convention) are prisoners of war also, subject to
the same treatment with those who surrender at discretion, except
only so far as the terms of their capitulation or convention shall
have guarded them. In the capitulation of Governor Hamilton
troit ; that, in that state, he wasted him with incessant expectations of death : that
when the rigors of his situation had brought him so low, that death seemed likely to
withdraw him from their power, he was taken out and somewhat attended to, until
a little mended, and before he had recovered ability to walk, was again returned to
his dungeon, in which a hole was cut, seven inches square only, for the admission of
air, and the same load of irons again put on him : that appearing, a second time, in
imminent danger of being lost to them, he was again taken from his dungeon, in.
which he had lain from January till June, with the intermission of a few weeks only,
before mentioned. That Governor Hamilton gave standing rewards for scalps, but
offered none for prisoners, which induced the Indians, after making their captives
carry their baggage into the neighborhood of the fort, there to put them to death,
and carry iu their scalps to the Governor, who welcomed their return and success by
a discharge of cannon. That when a prisoner, brought alive, and destined to death
by the Indians, the fire already kindled, and himself bound to the stake, was dexter-
ously withdrawn, and secreted from them by the humanity of a fellow prisoner, a
large reward was offered for the discovery of the victim, which having tempted a
servant to betray his concealment, the present prisoner Dejean, being sent with a
party of soldiers, surrounded the house, took and threw into jail the unhappy victim
and his deliverer, where the former soon expired under the perpetual assurances of
Dejean, that he was to be again restored into the hands of the savages ; and the
latter, when enlarged, was bitterly reprimanded by Governor Hamilton.
It appears to them, that the prisoner Dejean was OB all occasions the willing and
cordial instrument of Governor Hamilton, acting both as judge and keeper of the jails,
and instigating and urging him, by malicious insinuations and untruths, to increase,
rather than relax his severities, heightening the cruelty of his orders by his manner
of executing them ; offering at one time a reward to one man to be hangman for
another, threatening his life on refusal, and taking from his prisoners the little
property their opportunities enabled them to acquire.
It appears that the prisoner Lamothe was a captain of the volunteer scalping par-
ties of Indians and whites, who went, from time to time, under general orders to
spare neither men, women, nor children. From this detail of circumstances, which
arose in a few cases only, coming accidentally to the knowledge of the board, they
think themselves authorized by fair deduction, to presume what would be the horrid
history of the sufferings of the many who have expired under their miseries, (which,
therefore, will remain forever untold,) or, who have escaped from them, and are yet
too remote and too much dispersed, to bring together their well-founded accusations
against the prisoners.
They have seen that the conduct of the British officers, civil and military, has in
the whole course of this war been savage, and unprecedented among civilized
228 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
(a copy of which I enclose), no stipulation is made as to the
treatment of himself, or those taken with him. The Governor,
indeed, when he signs, adds a flourish of reasons inducing him
to capitulate, one of which is the generosity of his enemy.
Generosity, on a large and comprehensive scale, seems to dictate
the making a signal example of this gentleman ; but waving that,
these are the only private motives inducing him to surrender, and
do not enter into the contract of Colonel Clarke. I have the
highest idea of those contracts which take place between nation
and nation, at war, and would be the last on earth to do anything
in violation of them. I can find nothing in those books usually
recurred to as testimonials of the law and usages of nature
and nations, which convicts the opinions I have above expressed
nations ; th.it our officers taken by them, have been confined in crowded jails, loath-
some dungeons and prison ships, loaded with irons, supplied often with no food,
generally with too little for the sustenance of nature, and that little sometimes un-
sound and unwholesome, whereby such numbers have perished, that captivity and
death have with them been almost synonymous ; that they have been transported
beyond seas, where their fate is out of the reach of our inquiry, have been compelled
to take arms against their country, and by a refinement in cruelty, to become mur-
derers of their own brethren.
Their prisoners with us have, on the other hand, been treated with humanity and
moderation ; they have been fed, on all occasions, with wholesome and plentiful food,
suffered to go at large within extensive tracts of country, treated with liberal hospi-
tality, permitted to live in the families of our citizens, to labor for themselves, to ac-
quire and enjoy profits, and finally to participate of the principal benefits of society,
privileged from all burdens.
Reviewing this contrast, which cannot be denied by our enemies themselves, in a
single point, and which has now been kept up during four years of unremitting Avar,
a term long enough to produce well-founded despair that our moderation may ever
lead them to the practice of humanity ; called on by that justice we OAVC to those
Avho are fighting the battles of our country, to deal out, at length, miseries to their
enemies, measure for measure, and to distress the feelings of mankind by exhibiting
to them spectacles of severe retaliation, where we had long and vainly endeavored
to introduce an emulation in kindness ; happily possessed, by the fortune of war, of
some of those very individuals who, having distinguished themselves personally in
this line of cruel conduct, are fit subjects to begin on, with the work of retaliation ;
this board has resolved to advise the Governor, that the said Henry Hamilton.
Philip Dejean and William Lamothe, prisoners of war, be put in irons, confined in
the dungeons of the public jail, debarred the use of pen, ink and paper, and ex-
cluded all converse, except Avith their keeper. And the Governer orders accordingly.
AKCH: BLAIR, C. C.
CORRESPONDENCE. 229
of error. Yet there may be such an usage as General Phillips
seems to suppose, though not taken notice of hy these writers.
I am obliged to trouble your Excellency on this occasion, by
asking of you information on this point. There is no other per-
son, whose decision will so authoritatively decide this doubt in
the public mind, and none with which I am disposed so implicitly
to comply. If you shall be of opinion, that the bare existence
of a capitulation, in the case of Governor Hamilton, privileges
him from confinement, though there be no article to that effect
in the capitulation, justice shall most assuredly be done him.
The importance of this point, in a public view, and my own
anxiety under a charge of violation of national faith by the
Executive of this Commonwealth, will, I hope, apologise for my
adding this to the many troubles with which I know you to be
burdened. I have the honor to be, with the most profound
respect,
Your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
P. S. I have just received a letter from Colonel Bland, con-
taining information of numerous desertions from the Convention
troops, not less than four hundred in the last fortnight. He thinks
he has reason to believe it is with the connivance of some of
their officers. Some of these have been retaken, all of them going
northwardly. They had provided themselves with forged pass-
ports, and with certificates of having taken the oath of fidelity to
the State ; some of them forged, others really given by weak mag-
istrates. I give this information to your Excellency, as, perhaps,
it may be in your power to have such of them intercepted as shall
be passing through Pennsylvania and Jersey.
Your letter enclosing the opinion of the board of war in the
case of Allison and Lee, has come safe to hand, after a long pas-
sage. It shall be answered by next post.
230 JEFFERSON'S WOEKS.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
WILLIAMSBURG, October 1, 1779.
SIR, On receipt of your letter of August 6th, during my ab-
sence, the Council had the irons taken off the prisoners of war.
When your advice was asked, we meant it should decide with us ;
and upon my return to Williamsburg, the matter was taken up
and the enclosed advice given.* A parole was formed, of which
the enclosed is a copy, and tendered to the prisoners. They ob-
jected to that part of it, which restrained them from saying any-
thing to the prejudice of the United States, and insisted on " freedom
of speech." They were, in consequence, remanded to their con-
finement in the jail, which must be considered as a voluntary one,
until they can determine with themselves to be inoffensive in word
* Ix COUNCIL, September 29lh, 1779.
The board having been, at no time, unmindful of the circumstances attending the
confinement of Lieutenant Governor Hamilton, Captain Lamothe and Philip Dejeau,
which the personal cruelties of those men, as well as the general conduct of the en-
emy, had constrained them to advise : wishing, and willing to expect, that their suf-
ferings may lead them to the practice of humanity, should any future turn of fortune,
in their favor, submit to their discretion the fate of their fellow-creatures ; that it
may prove an admonition to others, meditating like cruelties, not to rely for impunity
in any circumstances of distance or present security ; and that it may induce the en-
emy to reflect, what must be the painful consequences, should a continuation of tne
same conduct on their part, impel us again to severities, while such multiplied subjects
of retaliation are within our power: sensible. that no impression can be made on the
event of the war, by wreaking vengeance on miserable captives ; that the great cause
which has animated the two nations against each other, is not to be decided by un-
manly cruelties on wretches, who have bowed their necks to the power of the victor,
but by the exercise of honorable valor in the field : earnestly hoping that the enemy,
viewing the subject in the same light, will be content to abide the event of that mode
of decision, and spare us the pain of a second departure from kindness to our cap-
tives : confident that commiseration to our prisoners is the only possible motive to
which can be candidly ascribed, in the present actual circumstances of the war, tho
advice we are now about to give ; tlie^board does advise the Governor to send Lieu-
tenant Governor Hamilton, Captain Lamothe and Philip Dejean, to Hanover court-
house, there to remain at large, within certain reasonable limits, taking the parole : a
the usual manner. The Governor orders accordingly. ARCH: BLAIR, C. C.
Ordered, that Major John Hay be sent, also, under parole, to the same place
ARCH: BLAIR, C C
CORRESPONDENCE. 231
as well as deed. A flag sails hence to-morrow to New York, to
negotiate the exchange of some prisoners. By her, I have written
to General Phillips on this subject, and enclosed to him copies of
the within ; intending it as an answer to a letter I received from
him on the subject of Governor Hamilton. I have the honor to
be, Sir,
Your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
WlLLIAMSBURG, Oct. 2, 1779.
SIR, Just as the letter accompanying this was going off, Col-
onel Mathews arrived on parole from New York, by the way of
head-quarters, bringing your Excellency's letter, on his subject,
with that of the British commissary of prisoners. The sub-
ject is of great importance, and I must, therefore, reserve myself
to answer after further consideration. Were I to speak from
present impressions, I should say it was happy for Governor Ham-
ilton, that a final determination of his fate was formed before this
new information. As the enemy have released Captain Willing
from his irons, the Executive of this State will be induced, per-
haps, not to alter their former opinion. But it is impossible they
can be serious in attempting to bully us in this manner. We
have too many of their subjects in our power, and, too much iron
to clothe them with, and I will add, too much resolution to avail
ourselves of both, to fear their pretended retaliation. However,
I will do myself the honor of forwarding to your Excellency the
ultimate result of Council on this subject.
In consequence of the information in the letter from the British
commissary of prisoners, that no officers of the Virginia line
should be exchanged till Governor Hamilton's affair should be
settled, we have stopped our flag, which was just hoisting anchor
with a load of privates for New York. I must, therefore, ask
the favor of your Excellency to forward the enclosed by flag,
232 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
when an opportunity offers, as I suppose General Phillips will be
in New York before it reaches you. I have the honor to be, Sir,
with the greatest esteem,
Your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
IN COUNCIL, Oct. 8, 1779.
SIR, In mine of the second of the present month, written in
the instant of Colonel Mathews' delivery of your letter, I informed
you what had been done on the subject of Governor Hamilton and
his companions, previous to that moment. I now enclose you an
advice of Council,* in consequence of the letter you were pleased
to enclose me, from the British commissary of prisoners, with
one from Lord Rawdon ; also a copy of my letter to Colonel
Mathews, enclosing, also, the papers therein named. The advice
of Council to allow the enlargement of prisoners, on their giving
a proper parole, has not been recalled, nor will be, I suppose,
unless something on the part of the enemy should render it neces-
sary. I rather expect, however, that they will see it their interest
to discontinue this kind of conduct. I am afraid I shall hereafter,
perhaps, be obliged to give your Excellency some trouble in aiding
me to obtain information of the future usage of our prisoners.
I shall give immediate orders for having in readiness every engine
which the enemy have contrived for the destruction of our un-
happy citizens, captured by them. The presentiment of these
operations is shocking beyond expression. I pray heaven to avert
them ; but nothing in this world will do it, but a proper conduct
* IN COUNCIL, October 8th, 1779.
The Governor ii advised to take proper and effectual measures for knowing, from
time to time, the situation and treatment of our prisoners by the enemy, and to ex-
tend to theirs, with us, a like treatment, in every circumstance ; and, also, to order to a
proper station, the prison ship fitted up on recommendation from Congress, for the
roception and confinement of such prisoners of war as shall be sent to it.
AKCH: BLAIR, C. C.
CORRESPONDENCE. 233
in the enemy. In every event,- 1 shall resign myself to the hard
necessity under which I shall act.
I have the honor to be, with great regard and esteem, your Ex-
cellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO COLONEL MATHEWS.
IN CouNcir,, October, 1779.
SIR, The proceedings respecting Governor Hamilton and his
companions, previous to your arrival here, you are acquainted with.
For your more precise information, I enclose you the advice of
Council, of June the 16th, of that of August the 28th, another of
September the 19th, on the parole tendered them the 1st instant,
and Governor Hamilton's letter of the same day, stating his objec-
tions, in which he persevered : from that time his confinement has
become a voluntary one. You delivered us your letters the next
day, when the post being just setting out, much business prevented
the Council from taking them into consideration. They have this
day attended to them, and found their resolution expressed in the
enclosed advice, bearing date this day. It gives us great pain that
any of our countrymen should be cut off from the society of their
friends and tenderest connections, while it seems as if it was in
our power to administer relief. But we trust to their good sense
for discerning, and their spirit for bearing up against the fallacy of
this appearance. Governor Hamilton and his companions were
imprisoned and ironed, 1st. In retaliation for cruel treatment of
our captive citizens by the enemy in general. 2d. For the bar-
barous species of warfare which himself and his savage allies
carried on in our western frontier. 3d. For particular acts of
barbarity, of which he himself was personally guilty, to some of
our citizens in his power. Any one of these charges was sufficient
to justify the measures we took. Of the truth of the first, your-
selves are witnesses. Your situation, indeed, seems to have been
better since you were sent to New York ; but reflect on what you
suffered before that, and knew others of your countrymen to suf-
234 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
fer, and what you know is now suffered by that more unhappy
part of them who are still confined on board the prison ships of
the enemy. Proofs of the second charge, we have under Hamil-
ton's own hand; and of the third, as sacred assurances as human
testimony is capable of giving. Humane conduct on our part was
found to produce no effect ; the contrary, therefore, was to be
tried. If it produces a proper lenity to our citizens in captivity,
it will have the effect we meant; if it does not, we shall return a
severity as terrible as universal. If the causes of our rigor
against Hamilton were founded in truth, that rigor was just, and
would not give right to the enemy to commence any new hos-
tilities on their part ; and all such new severities are to be con-
sidered, not as retaliation, but as original and unprovoked. If
those causes were not founded in truth, they should have denied
them. If, declining the tribunal of truth and reason, they choose
to pervert this into a contest of cruelty and destruction, we will
contend with them in that line, and measure out misery to those
in our power, in that multiplied proportion which the advantage of
superior numbers enables us to do. We shall think it our partic-
ular duty, after the information we gather from the papers which
have been laid before us, to pay very constant attention to your
situation and that of your fellow prisoners. We hope that the
prudence of the enemy will be your protection from injury ; and
we are assured that your regard for the honor of your country,
would not permit you to wish we should surfer ourselves to be
bullied into an acquiescence, under every insult and cruelty they
may choose to practice, and a fear to retaliate, lest you should be
made to experience additional sufferings. Their officers and sol-
diers, in our hands are pledges for your safety: we are determined
to use them as such. Iron will be retaliated by iron, but a great,
multiplication on distinguished objects: prison ships by prison
ships, and like for like in general. I do not mean by this to cover
any officer who has acted, or shall act improperly. They say
Captain Willing was guilty of great cruelties at the Natches ; if
so, they do right in punishing him. I would use any powers I
have, for the punishment of any officer of our own, who should
CORRESPONDENCE. 235
be guilty of excesses unjustifiable under the usages of civilized
nations. However, I do not find myself obliged to believe the
charge against Captain Willing to be true, on the affirmation of
the British commissary, because, in the next breath, he affirms no
cruelties have as yet been inflicted on him. Captain Willing has
been in irons.
I beg you to be assured, there is nothing, consistent with the
honor of your country, which we shall not, at all times, be ready
to do for the relief of yourself and companions in captivity. We
know that ardent spirit and hatred for tyranny, which brought
you into your present situation, will enable you to bear up against
it with the firmness which has distinguished you as a soldier, and
to look forward with pleasure to the day, when events shall take
place, against which, the wounded spirits of your enemies will
find no comfort, even from reflections on the most refined of the
cruelties with which they have glutted themselves.
I am, with great respect, your most obedient, and most humble
servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
o, November 28th, 1779.
SIR, Your Excellency's letter on the discriminations which
have been heretofore made, between the troops raised within this
State, and considered as part of our quota, and those not so con-
sidered, was delivered me four days ago. I immediately laid it
before the Assembly, who thereupon came to the resolution I
now do myself the honor of enclosing you. The resolution of
Congress, of March 15th, 1779, which you were so kind as to
enclose, was never known in this State till a few weeks ago,
when we received printed copies of the Journals of Congress. It
would be a great satisfaction to us, to receive an exact return of
all the men we have in Continental service, who come within
the description of the resolution, together with our State troops
236 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
in Continental service. Colonel Cabell was so kind as to send
me a return of the Continental regiments commanded by Lord
Sterling, of the first and second Virginia State regiments, and of
Colonel Gist's regiment. Besides these are the following ; viz.,
Colonel Harrison's regiment of artillery, Colonel Bayler's horse,
Colonel Eland's horse, General Scott's new levies, part of which
are gone to Carolina, and part are here, Colonel Gibson's regi-
ment stationed on the Ohio, Heath and O'Hara's independent com-
panies at the same stations, Colonel Taylor's regiment of guards
to the Convention troops : of these, we have a return. There
may, possibly, be others not occurring to me. A return of all
these would enable us to see what proportion of the Continental
army is contributed by us. We have, at present, very pressing
calls to send additional numbers of men to the southward. No
inclination is wanting in either the Legislature or Executive, to
aid them or strengthen you ; but we find it very difficult to pro-
cure men. I herewith transmit to your Excellency some recruit-
ing commissions, to be put into such hands as you may think
proper, for re-enlisting such of our soldiery as are not already en-
gaged for the war. The Act of Assembly, authorizing these in-
structions, requires that the men enlisted should be reviewed and
received by an officer to be appointed for that purpose ; a caution
less necessary in the case of men now actually in service, and,
therefore, doubtless, able bodied, than in the raising new recruits.
The direction, however, goes to all cases, and, therefore, we must
trouble your Excellency with the appointment of one or more
officers of review. Mr. Moss, our agent, receives orders, which
accompany this, to pay the bounty money and recruiting money,
and to deliver the clothing. We have, however, certain reason
to fear he has not any great sum of money on hand ; and it is
absolutely out of our power, at this time, to supply him, or to
say, with certainty, when we shall be able to do it. He is in-
structed to note his acceptances under the draughts, and to assure
payment as soon as we shall have it in our power to furnish
him, as the only substitute for money. Your Excellency's direc-
tions to the officer of review, will probably procure us the satis-
CORRESPONDENCE. 237
faction of being informed, from time to time, how many men
shall be re-enlisted.
By Colonel Mathews, I informed your Excellency fully of the
situation of Governor Hamilton and his companions. Lamothe
and Dejean have given their paroles, and are at Hanover Court-
House : Hamilton, Hay, and others, are still obstinate ; therefore,
still in close confinement, though their irons have never been on,
since your second letter on the subject. I wrote full information
of this matter to General Phillips also, from whom I had received
letters on the subject. I cannot, in reason, believe that the enemy,
on receiving this information, either from yourself or General
Phillips, will venture to impose any new cruelties on our officers
in captivity with them. Yet their conduct, hitherto, has been
most successfully prognosticated by reversing the conclusions of
right reason. It is, therefore, my duty, as well as it was my
promise to the Virginia captives, to take measures for discovering
any change which may be made in their situation. For this
purpose, I must apply for your Excellency's interposition. I
doubt not but you have an established mode of knowing, at all
times, through your commissary of prisoners, the precise state of
those in the power of the enemy. I must, therefore, pray you
to put into motions, any such means you have, for obtaining
knowledge of the situation of the Virginia officers in captivity.
If you should think proper, as I could wish, to take upon your-
self to retaliate any new sufferings which may be imposed on
them, it will be more likely to have due weight, and to restore
the unhappy on both sides, to that benevolent treatment for
which all should wish.
I have the honor to be, &c., &c.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
WILLIAMSBURG, December 10, 1779.
SIR, I take the liberty of putting under cover to your Excel
lency, some letters to Generals Phillips and Reidezel, uninformed
238 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
whether they are gone into New York or not, and knowing that
you can best forward them in either case.
I also trouble you with a letter from the master of the flag in
this State, to the British commissary of prisoners in New York,
trusting it will thus be more certainly conveyed than if sent to
Mr. Adams. It is my wish that the British commissary should
return his answer through your Excellency, or your commissary
of prisoners, and that they should not propose, under this pretext,
to send another flag, as the mission of the present flag is not un-
attended with circumstances of suspicion ; and a certain infor-
mation of the situation of ourselves and our allies here, might
influence the measures of the enemy.
Perhaps your commissary of prisoners can effect the former
method of answer.
I enclose to you part of an Act of Assembly ascertaining the
quantity of land which shall be allowed to the officers and sol-
diers at the close of the war, and providing means of keeping
that country vacant which has been allotted for them.
I am advised to ask your Excellency's attention to the case of
Colonel Bland, late commander of the barracks in Albemarle.
When that gentleman was appointed to that command, he attended
the Executive here, and informed them, he must either decline
it, or be supported in such a way as would keep up that respect
which was essential to his command ; without, at the same time,
ruining his private fortune.
The Executive were sensible he would be exposed to great
and unavoidable expense : they observed, his command would be
in a department separate from any other, and that he actually re-
lieved a Major General from the same service. They did not
think themselves authorized to say what should be done in this
case, but undertook to represent the matter to Congress, and, in
the meantime, gave it as their opinion that he ought to be allowed
a decent table. On this he undertook the office, and in the course
of it incurred expenses which seemed to have been unavoidable,
unless he would have lived in such a way as is hardly reconcila-
ble to the spirit of an officer, or the reputation of those in whose
UURRESPONDENCE. 239
service he is. Governor Henry wrote on the subject to Congress ;
Colonel Bland did the same ; hut we learn they have concluded
the allowance to be unprecedented, and inadmissible in the case
of an officer of his rank. The commissaries, on this, have
called on Colonel Bland for reimbursement. A sale of his estate
was about to take place, when we undertook to recommend to
them to suspend their demand, till we could ask the favor of you
to advocate this matter so far with Congress, as you may think
it right ; otherwise the ruin of a very worthy officer must in-
evitably follow.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect and esteem.
Your Excellency's most obedient servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
WILLI.AMSBURO, February 10, 1780.
SIR, It is possible you may have heard, that in the course of
last summer an expedition was meditated, by our Colonel Clarke,
against Detroit : that he had proceeded so far as to rendezvous a
considerable body of Indians, I believe four or five thousand, at
St. Vincennes ; but, being disappointed in the number of whites
he expected, and not choosing to rely principally on the Indians,
he was obliged to decline it. We have a tolerable prospect of
reinforcing him this spring, to the number which he thinks suffi-
cient for the enterprise. We have informed him of this, and left
him to decide between this object, and that of giving vigorous
chastisement to those tribes of Indians, whose eternal hostilities
have proved them incapable of living on friendly terms with us.
It is our opinion, his inclination will lead him to determine on
the former. The reason of my laying before your Excellency
this matter, is, that it has been intimated to me that Colonel
Broadhead is meditating a similar expedition. I wished, there-
fore, to make you acquainted with what we had in contempla-
tion. The enterprising arid energetic genius of Clarke is not al-
240 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
together unknown to you. You also know (what I am a stran-
ger to) the abilities of Broadhead, and the particular force with
which you will be able to arm him for such an expedition. We
wish the most hopeful means should be used for removing so
uneasy a thorn from our side. As yourself, alone, are acquainted
with all the circumstances necessary for well-informed decision,
I am to ask the favor of your Excellency, if you should think
Broadhead's undertaking it most likely to produce success, that
you will be so kind as to intimate to us to divert Clarke to the
other object, which is also important to this State. It will, of
course, have weight with you, in forming your determination,
that our prospect of strengthening Clarke's hands, sufficiently, is
not absolutely certain. It may be necessary, perhaps, to inform
you, that these two officers cannot act together, which excludes
the hopes of ensuring success by a joint expedition.
I have the honor to be, with the most sincere esteem, your
Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
TO GENERAL BE RlEDESEL.*
RICHMOND, May 3, 1780.
SIR, Your several favors of December 4th, February 10th, and
March 30th, are come duly to hand. I sincerely condole with
Madame de Riedesel on the birth of a daughter, but receive
great pleasure from the information of her recovery, as every cir-
cumstance of felicity to her, yourself or family, is interesting to
us. The little attentions you are pleased to magnify so much,
[* General de Riedesel, who commanded the Hessian troops, was among tlic prison-
era removed to Albetnarle, in 1779, after the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga.
Mr. Jefferson did everything in his power to render the situation of these prisoners
comfortable, and the educated and refined officers were often his guests. Among the
number was General de Riedesel, who seems to have entertained a grateful sense of
the kindness extended to him. The example of Mr. Jefferson was followed by most
of the wealthy gentlemen of the surrounding country ; the officers, both English and
German, have borne testimony to the polite and hospitable attentions which they
received in Virginia ] ED.
CORRESPONDENCE. 241
never deserved a mention or thought. My mortification was,
that the peculiar situation in which we were, put it out of our power
to render your stay here more comfortable. I am sorry to learn
that the negotiations for the exchange of prisoners have proved
abortive, as well from a desire to see the necessary distresses of
war alleviated in every possible instance, as that I am sensible
how far yourself and family are interested in it. Against this,
however, is to be weighed the possibility that we may again have
a pleasure we should otherwise, perhaps, never have had ; that
of seeing you again. Be this as it may, opposed as we happen
to be in our sentiments of duty and honor, and anxious for con-
trary events, I shall, nevertheless, sincerely rejoice in every cir-
cumstance of happiness or safety, which may attend you per-
sonally ; and when a termination of the present contest shall
put it in my power to declare to you more unreservedly, how
sincere are the sentiments of esteem and respect (wherein Mrs.
Jefferson joins me) which I entertain for Madame de Riedesel
and yourself, and with which I am, Sir,
Your most obedient and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, June 11, 1780
SIR, Major Galvan, as recommended by your Excellency, was
dispatched to his station without delay, and has been furnished
with everything he desired, as far as we were able. The line
of expresses formed between us, is such as will communicate in-
telligence from one to the other in twenty-three hours. I have
forwarded to him information of our disasters in the South, as
they have come to me.
Our intelligence from the southward is most lamentably de-
fective. Though Charleston has been in the hands of the enemy
a month, we hear nothing of their movements which can be re-
lied on. Rumors are, that they are penetrating northward. To
VOL. i. 16
242 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
remedy this defect, I shall immediately establish a line of ex-
presses from hence to the neighborhood of their army, and send
thither a sensible, judicious person, to give us information of their
movements. This intelligence will, I hope, be conveyed to us
at the rate of one hundred and twenty miles in the twenty-four
hours. They set out to their stations to-morrow. I wish it
were possible, that a like speedy line of communication could
be formed from hence to your Excellency's head-quarters. Per-
fect and speedy information of what is passing in the South,
might put it in your power, perhaps, to frame your measures by
theirs. There is really nothing to oppose the progress of the
enemy, northward, but the cautious principles of the military art.
North Carolina is without arms. We do not abound. Those
we have, are freely imparted to them, but such is the state of
their resources, that they have not been able to move a single
musket from this State to theirs. All the wagons we can collect,
have been furnished to the Marquis de Kalb, and are assembled
for the march of twenty-five hundred men, under General
Stevens, of Culpeper, who will move on the 10th instant. I
have written to Congress to hasten supplies of arms and military
stores for the Southern States, and particularly to aid us with
cartridge-paper and boxes, the want of which articles, small as
they are, renders our stores useless. The want of money cramps
every effort. This will be supplied by the most unpalatable of
all substitutes, force. Your Excellency will readily conceive,
that, after tne loss of one army, our eyes are turned towards the
other, and that we comfort ourselves, if any aids can be fur-
nished by you, without defeating the operations more beneficial
to the general union, they will be furnished. At the same time,
I am happy to find that the wishes of the people go no further,
as far as I have an opportunity of learning their sentiments.
Could arms be furnished, I think this State and North Carolina
would embody from ten to fifteen thousand militia, immediately,
and more if necessary.
I hope, ere long, to be able to give you a more certain state-
ment of the enemy's as well as our situation, which I shall not
CORRESPONDENCE. 243
fail to do. I enclose you a letter from Major Galvan, being the
second I have forwarded to you.
With sentiments of the most perfect esteem and respect, I
have the honor to be your Excellency's
Most obedient humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, July 2, I 1 ? 80.
SIR, I have received from the Committee of Congress, at
head-quarters, three letters calling for aids of men and provis-
ions. I beg leave to refer you to my letter to them, of this
date, on those subjects. I thought it necessary, however, to
suggest to you the preparing an arrangement of officers for the
men ; for, though they are to supply our battalions, yet, as our
whole line officers, almost, are in captivity, I suppose some
temporary provision must be made. We cheerfully transfer to
you every power which the Executive might exercise on this
occasion. As it is possible you may cast your eye on the un-
employed officers now within the State, I write to General
Muhlenburg, to send you a return of them. I think the men
will be rendezvoused within the present month. The bill, in-
deed, for raising them is not actually passed, but it is in its last
stage, and no opposition to any essential parts of it. I will take
care to notify you of its passage.
I have, with great pain, perceived your situation ; and, the
more so, as, being situated between two fires, a division of sen-
timent has arisen, both in Congress and here, as to which the
resources of this country should be sent. The removal of Gen-
eral Clinton to the northward, must, of course, have great in-
fluence on the determination of this question ; and I have no
doubt but considerable aids may be drawn hence, for your army,
unless a larger one should be embodied in the South, than the
force of the enemy there seems to call for. I have the honor
244 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
to be, with every sentiment of respect and esteem, your Excel-
lency's
Most obedient humble servant.*
TO GENERAL EDWARD STEVENS.
RICHMOND, August 4, 1780.
SIR, Your several favors of July the 16th, 21st, and 22d,
are now before me. Our smiths are engaged in making five
hundred axes and some tomahawks for General Gates. About
one hundred of these will go by the wagons now taking in their
loads. As these are for the army in general, no doubt but you
will participate of them. A chest of medicine was made up for
you in Williamsburg, and by a strange kind of forgetfulness,
the vessel ordered to bring that, left it and brought the rest of the
shop. It is sent for again, and I am not without hopes will be
here in time to go by the present wagons. They will carry
some ammunition and the axes, and will make up their load
with spirits. Tents, I fear, cannot be got in this country ; we
have, however, sent out powers to all the trading towns here, to
* [The following memorandum is inserted in the MS. at the close of this letter.]
FEMALE CONTRIBUTIONS, IN AID OF THE WAR, PROBABLY IN 1780.
Mrs. Sarah Gary, of Scotchtown, a watch-chain, cost 7 sterling.
Mrs. Ambler, five gold rings.
Mrs. Rebecca Ambler, three gold rings.
Mrs. Nicholas, a diamond drop.
Mrs. Griffin, of Dover, ten half joes.
Mrs. Gilmer, five guineas.
Mrs. Anne Ramsay (for Fairfax), one half joe, three guineas, three pistereens, one bit.
Do. for do. paper money, bundle No. 1, twenty thousand dollars, No. 2, twenty -seven
thousand dollars, No. 3, fifteen thousand dollars, No. 4, thirteen thousand five hun-
dred and eighteen dollars and one-third.
Mrs. Lewis (for Albermarle), 1559 8s. paper money.
Mrs. Weldon, 39 18s. new, instead of 1600, old paper money.
Mrs. Blackburn (for Prince William), seven thousand five hundred and six dollars,
paper money.
Mrs. Randolph, the younger, of Chatsworth, eight hundred dollars.
Mrs. Fitzhugh and others, 558.
CORRESPONDENCE. 245
take it wherever they can find it. I write to General Gates, to
try whether the duck in North Carolina cannot be procured by
the Executive of that State on Continental account ; for, surely,
the whole army, as well our militia as the rest, is Continental
The arms you have to spare may be delivered to General
Gates's order, taking and furnishing us with proper vouchers.
We shall endeavor to send our drafts armed. I cannot con-
ceive how the arms before sent could have got into so very bad
order ; they certainly went from hence in good condition. You
wish to know how far the property of this State, in your hands,
is meant to be subject to the orders of the Commander-in-
chief. Arms and military stores, we mean to be perfectly sub-
ject to him. The provisions going from this country will be
for the whole army. If we can get any tents, they must be ap-
propriated to the use of our own troops. Medicine, sick stores,
spirits and such things, we expect shall be on the same footing
as with the northern army. There, you know, each State fur-
nishes its own troops with these articles, and, of course, has an
exclusive right to what is furnished. The money put into your
hands, was meant as a particular resource for any extra wants
of our own troops, yet, in case of great distress, you would prob-
ably not see the others suffer without communicating part of it
for their use. We debit Congress with this whole sum. There
can be nothing but what is right in your paying Major Mazaret's
troops out of it. I wish the plan you have adopted for securing
a return of the arms from the militia, may answer. I apprehend
any man who has a good gun on his shoulder, would agree to
keep it, and have the worth of it deducted out of his pay, more
especially, when the receipt of the pay is at some distance.
What would you think of notifying to them, further, that a
proper certificate that they are discharged, and have returned
their arms, will be required before any pay is issued to them.
A roll, kept and forwarded, of those so discharged, and who
have delivered up their arms, would supply accidental losses
of their certificates. We are endeavoring to get bayonet belts
made. The State quarter-master affirms the cartouch boxes
246 JEFFERSON'S WOEKS.
sent from this place (nine hundred and fifty-nine in number),
were all in good condition. I therefore suppose the three hun-
dred you received in such very bad order, must have gone from
the Continental quarter-master at Petersburg, or, perhaps, have
been pillaged, on the road, of their flaps, to mend shoes, &c. I
must still press the return of as many wagons as possible. All
you will send, shall be loaded with spirits, or something else for
the army. By their next return, we shall have a good deal of
bacon collected. The enclosed is a copy of what was reported
to me, as heretofore sent by the wagons. I am, Sir, with the
greatest esteem,
Your most obedient humble servant.
TO
RICHMOND, August 4, 1780.
SIR, Your several favors of July 19, 21, and 22, are now be-
fore me. I have enquired into the state of the cartouch boxes
which were sent from our magazine. The Quartermaster as-
sures me they were in very good order. I must, therefore, con-
clude, that the 300 complained of by General Stevens, were
some sent from Petersburg by the Continental Quartermaster, or
that they were pillaged of the leather on the way, to mend shoes,
&c. We had hopes of getting 2,000 from the Board of War,
but we got only about 600, and they are said to be unfit for use.
We are engaged in making bayonet belts, which shall be for-
warded, but it is extremely difficult to procure leather. The
consumption of beef by your army will, I hope, remove the
want of this article another year. 1 have ordered the 500 axes
you desired, with some tomahawks, to be made. They turn
out about 20 a day. About 100 will go on by the wagons Gen-
[* This letter has no direction, but was probably addressed to General Gates, then
.Commanding the Southern army. It was written by Mr. Jefferson in his character
of Governor of Virginia, to which office he was elected on the 1st of June, 1779.
ED.]
CORRESPONDENCE. 247
eral Stevens sent us, which are now loading at this place.
These wagons will carry some ammunition and spirit. A vessel
with about 3,000 stand of arms, coming down the bay for the
use of your army, was driven by privateers into Wicomico. We
are endeavoring to get them forwarded either by land or water.
The want of wagons will greatly retard them. What is to be
done for tents, I know not. I am assured that very little duck
can be got in this country. Whatever there is, however, will
be produced under a commission gone out for that purpose.
The duck you speak of as being in North Carolina, cannot be
procured by that State, on Continental account, for the use of
the army. I communicated your orders to Colonel Finnic, and
to Colonel Buford, and have directed proper applications for the
repairs of the bridges, &c., you mention. Arms are ready for
Buford's, Davies's, and Gibson's men. Gibson's men are clothed,
and wait only to be paid, which will be done within the course
of a week. Clothing has been issued some time for the others,
which is making up under the superintendence of Colonel
Davies. They are utterly destitute of blankets, and I fear we
shall be unable to get any. Brent's infantry are but 30, and
cannot be sent on without bringing on disagreeable disputes
about rank between his officers and Gibson's. To silence these,
the march of his men has been countermanded. Colonel Finnic
informs me, that Major Lee's infantry has been sent back by
special orders. We have ordered 243 horses to be purchased for
Colonels White and Washington. The orders to Mr. Lewis to
purchase beef in Carolina were given by the Continental Com-
missary, so long ago as last winter, when it was not foreseen
there would be such a call for it in that country. Having no
other means of conveying a letter to him, I take the liberty of
putting one under cover to you, with instructions to him to dis-
continue his purchases in North Carolina, and to furnish you
with so much of the beef he has, as you may think necessary.
It would be expedient for you to leave in his hands whatever
quantity is not absolutely necessary for your army ; as, depend-
ing on that, no other provision has been made for the post at
248 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
Charlottesville, and you know our country so well as to foresee
that a port, at which 5,000 rations a day are issued, cannot be
fed by the purchase of the day.
We have reason to believe the French fleet arrived at New-
port the 10th ult., but it is not certain. Admiral Graves, with
six sail of the line, is certainly arrived at New York.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, Sir,
Your most obedient and most humble servant.
TO MAJOR-GENERAL GATES.
RICHMOND, August 15, 1780.
SIR, Your favor of August the 3d, is just now put into my
hand. Those formerly received have been duly answered, and
my replies will, no doubt, have reached you before this date.
My last letter to you was by Colonel Drayton.
I spoke fully with you on the difficulty of procuring wagons
here, when I had the pleasure of seeing you, and for that reason
pressed the sending back as many as possible. One brigade of
twelve has since returned, and is again on its way with medi-
cine, military stores, and spirit. Any others which come, and
as fast as they come, shall be returned to you with spirit and
bacon. I have ever been informed, that the very plentiful har-
vests of North Carolina, would render the transportation of flour
from this State as unnecessary as it would be tedious, and that,
in this point of view, the wagons should carry hence only the
articles before mentioned, which are equally wanting with you.
Finding that no great number of wagons is likely to return to
us, we will immediately order as many more to be bought and
sent on, as we possibly can. But, to prevent too great expecta-
tions, I must again repeat, that I fear no great number can be
got. I do assure you, however, that neither attention nor ex-
pense shall be spared, to forward to you every support for which
we can obtain means of transportation. You have, probably,
CORRESPONDENCE. 249
received our order on Colonel Lewis, to deliver you any of the
beeves he may have purchased.
Tents, I fear, it is in vain to expect, because there is not in
this country stuff to make them. We have agents and commis-
sioners in constant pursuit of stuff, but hitherto researches have
been fruitless. Your order to Colonel Carrington shall be im-
mediately communicated. A hundred copies of the proclama-
tion shall also be immediately printed and forwarded to you.
General Muhlenburg is come to this place, which he will now
make his head-quarters. I think he will be able to set into mo-
tion, within a very few days, five hundred regulars, who are
now equipped for their march, except some blankets still want-
ing, but I hope nearly procured and ready to be delivered.
I sincerely congratulate you on your successful advances on the
enemy, and wish to do everything to second your enterprises,
which the situation of this country, and the means and powers
put into my hands, enable me to do.
I am, Sir, with sincere respect and esteem,
Your most obedient and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, September 3, 1780.
SIR, As I know the anxieties you must have felt, since the
late misfortune to the South, and our latter accounts have not
been quite so favorable as the first, I take the liberty of enclosing
you a statement of this unlucky affair, taken from letters from
General Gates, General Stevens, and Governor Nash, and, as to
some circumstances, from an officer who was in the action.*
Another army is collecting ; this amounted, on the 23d ultimo, to
between four and five thousand men, consisting of about five
hundred Maryland regulars, a few of Hamilton's artillery, and
[* The circumstances of the defeat of General Gates's army, near Camden, in
August, 1780, being of historical notoriety, this statement is omitted.]
250 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
Portersfield corps, Armand's legion, such of the Virginia militia
as had been reclaimed, and about three thousand North Carolina
militia, newly embodied. We are told they will increase these
to eight thousand. Our new recruits will rendezvous in this
State between the 10th and 25th instant. We are calling out
two thousand militia, who, I think, however, will not be got to
Hillsborough till the 25th of October. About three hundred
and fifty regulars marched from Chesterfield a week ago. Fifty
march to-morrow, and there will be one hundred or one hundred
and fifty more from that post, when they can be cleared of the
hospital. This is as good a view as I can give you of the
force we are endeavoring to collect ; but they are unarmed.
Almost the whole small arms seems to have been lost in the late
rout. There are here, on their way southward, three thousand
stand of arms, sent by Congress, and we have still a few in our
magazine. I have written pressingly, as the subject \vell de-
serves, to Congress, to send immediate supplies, and to think of
forming a magazine here, that in case of another disaster, we
may not be left without all means of opposition.
I enclosed to your Excellency, some time ago, a resolution of
the Assembly, instructing us to send a quantity of tobacco to
New York for the relief of our officers there, and asking the
favor of you to obtain permission. Having received no an-
swer, I fear my letter or your answer has miscarried. I therefore
take the liberty of repeating my application to you.
I have the honor to be, with the most profound respect, your
Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
TO EDWARD STEVENS.
RICHMOND, September 3, 1780.
DEAR SIR, I sincerely condole with you on our late misfor-
tune,* which sits the heavier on my mind as being produced by
[* Battle of Camden, August 16th, 1780.]
CORRESPONDENCE. 251
my own countrymen. Instead of considering what is past, how-
ever, we are to look forward and prepare for the future. I write
General Gates and Governor Nash as to supplies and reinforce-
ments. Another body of 2,000 militia are ordered to you to ren-
dezvous at Hillsborough, on the 25th of October. They come
from the middle and north counties, beyond and adjoining the
Blue Ridge. I am told, also, that a spirit of raising volunteers is
springing up. The truth of this, however, is not certainly known,
nor can its success be depended on. Governor Nash writes me
that 400 wagons were- lost. An officer here, however, thinks
they are not. This, indeed, would be a heavy loss, as well as
that of the small arms. We shall exert every nerve to assist you
in every way in our power, being, as we are, without any money
in the Treasury, or any prospect of more till the Assembly meets
in October.
I am with great esteem your most obedient and most humble
servant.
TO THE HON. MAJOR GENERAL GATES.
RICHMOND, September 11, 1780.
DEAR SIR, Your bill for 54,712 in favor of Mallette, has
been duly honored, that for 95,288 we shall also discharge ;
another bill (which being delivered back to be presented at the
end of the ten days, I cannot recollect either the name of the
holder or the sum) has been accepted. We are now without
one shilling in the treasury, or a possibility of having it recruited
till the meeting of the Assembly, which takes place on the loth
of the next month. In this condition Mr. Duncan Ochiltree
found us when he delivered your letter of the 5th instant, and
draught for 100,000 in favor of Col. Polk. The only thing in
our power, after stating to him our situation, was to assure him
that it should be paid as soon as we should be enabled to do it
by the Assembly, which I flatter myself will be as soon as they
252 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
meet. Of this I am to notify him, that he may know when to
call for payment. I shall he very glad if you can accommodate,
to the same circumstances, any other draughts you may find it
necessary to make on me.
We have sent a Mr. Paton, Commissary for the State, to collect
beeves in our southern counties, and forward them to your army.
He has orders to keep up a proper correspondence with your
Commissary.
I have the honor to be with the greatest esteem and respect,
Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant.
TO GENERAL EDWARD STEVENS.
RICHMOND, September 12, 1780.
SIR, Your letters of August 27th and 30th are now before
me. The subsequent desertions of your militia have taken away
the necessity of answering the question, How they shall be
armed ? On the contrary, as there must now be a surplus of
arms, I am in hopes you will endeavor to reserve them, as we
have not here a sufficient number by fifteen hundred or two thou-
sand for the men who will march hence, if they march in num-
bers equal to our expectations. I have sent expresses into all
the counties from which those militia went, requiring the county
lieutenants to exert themselves in taking them ; and such is the
detestation with which they have been received, that I have
heard from many counties they were going back of themselves.
You will, of course, hold courts martial on them, and make them
soldiers for eight months. If you will be so good as to inform
me, from time to time, how many you have, we may, perhaps,
get the supernumerary officers in the State to take command of
them. By the same opportunities, I desired notice to be given
to the friends of the few remaining with you, that they had lost
their clothes and blankets, and recommended that they should
avail themselves of any good opportunity to send them supplies.
CORRESPONDENCE. 253
We approve of your accommodating the hospital with medicines,
and the Maryland troops with spirits. They really deserve the
whole, and I wish we had means of transportation for much greater
quantities, which we have on hand and cannot convey. This arti-
cle we could furnish plentifully to you and them. What is to be
done for wagons, I do not know. We have not now one shilling
in the treasury to purchase them. We have ordered an active
quarter-master to go to the westward, and endeavor to purchase
on credit, or impress a hundred wagons and teams. But I really
see no prospect of sending you additional supplies, till the same
wagons return from you, which we sent on with the last. I in-
formed you, in my last letter, we had ordered two thousand militia
more, to rendezvous at Hillsborough on the 25th of October. You
will judge yourself, whether, in the meantime, you can be more
useful by remaining where you are, with the few militia left and
coming in, or by returning home, where, besides again accom-
modating yourself after your losses, you may also aid us in get-
ting those men into motion, and in pointing out such things as
are within our power, and may be useful to the service. And
you will act accordingly. I am, with great friendship and esteem,
dear Sir,
Your most obedient, humble servant.
TO GENERAL EDWARD STEVENS.
RICHMOND, Sept. 15th, 1780.
SIR, I beg leave to trouble you with a private letter, on a little
matter of my own, having no acquaintance at camp, with whom I
can take that liberty. Among the wagons impressed, for the use of
your militia, were two of mine. One of these, I know is safe, hav-
ing been on its way from hence to Hillsborough, at the time of the
late engagement. The other, I have reason to believe, was on
the field. A wagon master, who says he was near it, informs me
the brigade quarter-master cut out one of my best horses, and
254 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
made his escape on him, and that he saw my wagoner loosening
his own horse to come off, but the enemy's horse were then com-
ing up, and he knows nothing further. He was a negro man,
named Phill, lame in one arm and leg. If you will do me the
favor to enquire what has become of him, what horses are saved,
and to send them to me, I shall be much obliged to you. The
horses were not public property, as they were only impressed and
not sold. Perhaps your certificate of what is lost, may be neces-
sary for me. The wagon master told me, that the public money
was in my wagon, a circumstance which, perhaps, may aid your
enquiries. After apologising for the trouble, I beg leave to as-
sure you that I am, with great sincerity,
Your friend and servant.
TO MAJOR GENERAL GATES.
RICHMOND, September 23, 1780.
SIR, I have empowered Colonel Carrington to have twelve
boats, scows or batteaux, built at Taylor's Ferry, and to draw on me
for the cost. I recommended the constructing them so as to answer
the transportation of provisions along that river, as a change of po-
sition of the two armies, may render them unnecessary at Taylor's
ferry ; and I am thoroughly persuaded, that, unless we can find
out some channel of transportation by water, no supplies of bread,
of any consequence, can be sent you from this State for a long
time to come. The want of wagons is a bar insuperable, at least,
in any reasonable time. I have given orders to have Fry and
Jefferson's map, and Henry's map of Virginia, sought for and
purchased. As soon as they can be got, I will forward them. I
have also written to General Washington on the subject of win-
tering the French fleet in the Chesapeake. Oar new levies rendez-
vous in large numbers. As General Washington had constituted
them into eight battalions, and allotted none to Colonel Harrison,
we think to deliver him about four hundred drafts of another kind,
CORRESPONDENCE. 255
who are to serve eighteen months also. Unless Congress furnish
small arms, we cannot arm more than half the men who will go
from this State. The prize you mention of tents and blankets is
very fortunate. It is absolutely out of our power to get these
articles, to any amount, in this country, nor have we clothing for
our new levies. They must, therefore, go to you clothed as
militia, till we can procure and send on supplies. They will be
as warm in their present clothing at Hillsborough, as at Ches-
terfield Court House.
We have an agent, collecting all the beeves which can be got
from the counties round about Portsmouth, to send off to you.
They have there also plentiful crops of corn growing. We have
instructed him to try whether means of conveying it down into
the Sounds, and up some of the- rivers of North Carolina, or by
land to Meherrin river, and thence down Chowan, and up Ro-
anoke, cannot be rendered practicable.
I am, with every sentiment of esteem and respect, your most
obedient and most humble servant.
P. S. I enclose a certificate, acknowledging satisfaction for
the money furnished by Colonel Kosciusko.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, September 23, 1780.
SIR, I yesterday forwarded to you a letter from Colonel
Wood, informing you of his situation. That post has, for some
time past, been pretty regularly supplied, and I hope will con-
tinue to be for some time to come. A person, whose punctuality
can be relied on, offers to contract for victualling it. If we can
agree on terms, and the Assembly will strengthen our hands suf-
ficiently, we think to adopt that method, as the only one to be
relied on with certainty. I have heard it hinted that Colonel
Wood thinks of quitting that post. I should be exceedingly
256 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
sorry, indeed, were he to do it. He has given to those under
his charge the most perfect satisfaction, and, at the same time,
used all the cautions which the nature of his charge has re-
quired. It is principally owing to his prudence and good tem-
per, that the late difficulties have been passed over, almost
without a murmur. Any influence which your Excellency
shall think proper to use, for retaining him in his present situ-
ation, will promote the public good, and have a great tendency
to keep up a desirable harmony with the officers of that corps.
Our new recruits are rendezvousing very generally. Colonel
Harrison was uneasy at having none of them assigned to his
corps of artillery, who have very much distinguished themselves
in the late unfortunate action, and are reduced almost to no-
thing. We happened to have about four hundred drafts, raised
in the last year, and never called out and sent on duty by their
county lieutenants, whom we have collected and are collecting.
We think to deliver these to Colonel Harrison : they are to serve
eighteen months from the time of rendezvous. The numbers
of regulars and militia ordered from this State into the southern
service, are about seven thousand. I trust we may count that
fifty-five hundred will actually proceed ; but we have arms for
three thousand only. If, therefore, we do not speedily receive a
supply from Congress, we must countermand a proper number of
these troops. Besides this supply, there should certainly be a
magazine laid in here, to provide against a general loss as well
as daily waste. When we deliver out those now in our maga-
zine, we shall have sent seven thousand stand of our own
into the southern service, in the course of this summer. We
.are still more destitute of clothing, tents and wagons for our
troops. The southern army suffers for provisions, which we
could plentifully supply, were it possible to find means of trans-
portation. Despairing of this, we directed very considerable
quantities, collected on the navigable waters, to be sent north-
wardly by the quarter-master. This he is now doing ; slowly,
however. Unapprised what may be proposed by our allies, to
be done with their fleet in the course of the ensuing winter, 1
CORRESPONDENCE. 257
would beg leave to intimate to you, that if it should appear to
.hem eligible that it should winter in the Chesapeake, they can
be well supplied with provisions, taking their necessary measures
in due time. The waters communicating with that bay furnish
easy, and (in that case) safe transportation, and their money
will call forth what is denied to ours.
I am, with all possible esteem and respect, your Excellency's
most obedient and humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, September 26, 1780.
Sm, The enclosed copy of a letter from Lord Cornwallis*
to Colonel Balfour, was sent me by Governor Rutledge : lest
you should not have seen it, I do myself the pleasure of trans-
mitting it, with a letter from General Harrington to General
Gates giving information of some late movements of the enemy.
* TO LIEUTENANT COLONEL NISBET BALFOUR, COMMANDER AT NINETY-SIX.
I have the happiness to inform you, that on Wednesday the 16th instant, I to-
tally defeated General Gates's army. One thousand were killed and wounded, about
eight hundred taken prisoners. We are in possession of eight pieces of brass cannon,
all they had in the field, all their ammunition wagons, a great number of arms, and
one hundred and thirty baggage wagons : in short, there never was a more complete
victory. I have written to Lieutenant Colonel Turnbull, whom I sent to join Major
Johnson on Little river, to push on after General Sumpter to the Waxhaws, whose
detachment is the only collected force of rebels in all this country. Colonel Tarlton
is in pursuit of Sumpter. Our loss is about three hundred killed and wound, chiefly
of the thirty-third regiment and volunteers, of Ireland. I have given orders that
all the inhabitants of this province, who have subscribed and taken part in this re-
volt, should be punished with the greatest rigor ; also, that those who will not turn
out, may be imprisoned, and their whole property taken from them, and destroyed.
I have also ordered that satisfaction should be made for their estates, to those who
have been injured and oppressed by them. I have ordered, in the most positive man-
ner, that every militia man who has borne arms with us and afterwards joined the
enemy, shall be immediately hanged. I desire you will take the most rigorous meas-
ures to punish the rebels in the district in which you command, and that you will
obey, in the strictest manner, the directions I have given in this letter, relative to the
inhabitants of this -country. COENWALLIS.
August, 1780.
VOL. I. 1^
258 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
I was honored yesterday with your favor of the 5th instant,
on the subject of prisoners, and particularly Lieutenant Governor
Hamilton. You are not unapprised of the influence of this
officer with the Indians, his activity and embittered zeal against
us. You also, perhaps, know how precarious is our tenure of
the Illinois country, and how critical is the situation of the new
counties on the Ohio. These circumstances determined us to
detain Governor Hamilton and Major Hay within our power,
when we delivered up the other prisoners. On a late represen-
tation from the people of Kentucky, by a person sent here from
that country, and expressions of what they had reason to appre-
hend from these two prisoners, in the event of their liberation,
we assured them they would not be parted with, though we
were giving up our other prisoners. Lieutenant Colonel Dabus-
son, aid to Baron de Kalb, lately came here on his parole, with
an offer from Lord Rawdon, to exchange him for Hamilton.
Colonel Towles is now here with a like proposition for himself,
from General Phillips, very strongly urged by the General.
These, and other overtures, do not lessen our opinion of the im-
portance of retaining him ; and they have been, and will be,
uniformly rejected. Should the settlement, indeed, of a cartel
become impracticable, without the consent of the States to sub-
mit their separate prisoners to its obligation, we will give up
these two prisoners, as we would anything, rather than be an
obstacle to a general good. But no other circumstance would,
I believe, extract them from us. These two gentlemen, with a
Lieutenant Colonel Elligood, are the only separate prisoners we
have retained, and the last, only on his own request, and not
because we set any store by him. There is, indeed, a Lieuten-
ant Governor Rocheblawe of Kaskaskie, who has broken his
parole, and gone to New York, whom we must shortly trouble
your Excellency to demand for us, as soon as we can forward
to you the proper documents. Since the forty prisoners sent to
Winchester, as mentioned in my letter of the 9th ultimo, about
one hundred and fifty more have been sent thither, some of
them taken by us at sea, others sent on by General Gates.
CORRESPONDENCE. 259
The exposed and weak state of our western settlements, and
the danger to which they are subject from the northern Indians,
acting under the influence of the British post at Detroit, render
it necessary for us to keep from five to eight hundred men on
duty, for their defence. This is a great and perpetual expense.
Could that post be reduced and retained, it would cover all the
States to the southeast of it. We have long meditated the at-
tempt under the direction of Colonel Clarke, but the expense
would be so great, that whenever we have wished to take it up,
the circumstance has obliged us to decline it. Two different
estimates make it amount to two millions of pounds, present
money. We could furnish the men, provisions, and every neces-
sary, except powder, had we the money, or could the demand
from us be so far supplied from other quarters, as to leave it in
our power to apply such a sum to that purpose ; and, when
once done, it would save annual expenditures to a great amount.
When I speak of furnishing the men, I mean they should be
militia, such being the popularity of Colonel Clarke, and the
confidence of the western people in him, that he could raise the
requisite number at any time. We, therefore, beg leave to refer
this matter to yourself, to determine whether such an enterprise
would not be for the general good, and if you think it would,
to authorize it at the general expense. This is become the more
reasonable, if, as I understand, the ratification of the Confedera-
tion has been rested on our cession of a part of our western
claim ; a cession which (speaking my private opinion) I verily
believe will be agreed to, if the quantity demanded is not un-
reasonably great. Should this proposition be approved of, it
should be immediately made known to us, as the season is now
coming on, at which some of the preparations must be made.
The time of execution, I think, should be at the time of the
breaking up of the ice in the Wabash, and before the lakes
open. The interval, I am told, is considerable.
I have the honor to be, &c., your most obedient and humble
servant.
260 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
TO MAJOR-GENERAL GATES.
RICHMOND, October 4, 1780.
SIR, My letter of September 23d, answered your favors re
ceived before that date, and the present serves to acknowledge
the receipt of those of September 24th arid 27th. I retain in
mind, and recur, almost daily, to your requisitions of August ;
we have, as yet, no prospect of more than one hundred tents.
Flour is ordered to be manufactured, as soon as the season will
render it safe : out of which, I trust, we can furnish not only
your requisition of August, but that of Congress of September
llth. The corn you desire, we could furnish when the new
crops come in, fully, if water transportation can be found ; if
not, we shall be able only to send you what lies convenient to
the southern boundary, in which neighborhood the crops have
been much abridged by a flood in Roanoke. We have no rice.
Rum and other spirits we can furnish to a greater amount than
you require, as soon as our wagons are in readiness, and shall be
glad to commute into that article some others which we have
not, particularly sugar, coffee and salt. The vinegar is provided.
Colonel Finnic promised to furnish to Colonel Muter, a list of the
spades, hoes, &c., which could be furnished from the Continental
stores. This list has never yet come to hand. It is believed,
the Continental stores here will fall little short of your requisi-
tion, except in the article of axes, which our shops are proceed-
ing on. Your information of September 24th, as to the quality
of the axes, has been notified to the workmen, and will, I hope,
have a proper effect on those made hereafter. Application has
been made to the courts, to have the bridges put in a proper
state, which they have promised to do. We are endeavoring
again to collect wagons. About twenty are nearly finished at
this place. We employed, about three weeks ago, agents to pur-
chase, in the western counties, a hundred wagons and teams.
Till these can be got, it will be impossible to furnish anything
from this place. I am exceedingly pleased to hear of your regu-
lation for stopping our wagons at Roanoke. This will put it in
COEKESPONDENCE. 261
our power to repair and replace them, to calculate their returns,
provide loads, and will be a great encouragement to increase
their number, if possible, as their departure hence will no longer
produce the idea of a final adieu to them.
Colonel Senf arrived here the evening before the last. He
was employed yesterday and to-day, in copying some actual and
accurate surveys, which we had had made of the country round
about Portsmouth, as far as Cape Henry to the eastward, Nanse-
mond river to the westward, the Dismal Swamp to the south-
ward, and northwardly, the line of country from Portsmouth by
Hampton and York, to Williamsburg, and including the vicinities
of these three last posts. This will leave him nothing to do,
but to take drawings of particular places, and the soundings of
such waters as he thinks material. He will proceed on this
business to-morrow, with a letter to General Nelson, and powers
to call for the attendance of a proper vessel.
I suppose, that your drafts in favor of the quarter-master, if
attended with sixty days' grace, may be complied with to a cer-
tain amount. We will certainly use our best endeavors to an-
swer them. I have only to desire that they may be made pay-
able to the quarter-master alone, and not to the bearer. This is
to prevent the mortification of seeing an unapprised individual
taken in by an assignment of them, as if they were ready money.
Your letter to Colonel Finnic will go to Williamsburg immedi-
ately. Those to Congress, with a copy of the papers enclosed
to me, went yesterday by express. I will take order as to the
bacon you mention. I fear there is little of it, and that not
capable of being long kept. You are surely not uninformed,
that Congress required the greater part of this article to be sent
northward, which has been done. I hope, by this time, you re-
ceive supplies of beeves from our commissary, Mr. Eaton, who
was sent three weeks or a month ago to exhaust of that article
the counties below, and in the neighborhood of Portsmouth ;
and from thence, was to proceed to the other counties, in order,
as they stood exposed to an enemy.
The arrival of the French West India fleet (which, though
262 JEFFERSON'S WOEKS.
not authentically communicated, seems supported by so many
concurring accounts from individuals, as to leave scarcely room
for doubt), will, I hope, prevent the enemy from carrying into
effect the embarkation they had certainly intended from New
York, though they are strengthened by the arrival of Admiral
Rodney at that place, with twelve sail of the line and four
frigates, as announced by General Washington to Congress, on
the 19th ultimo. The accounts of the additional French fleet
are varied, from sixteen to nineteen ships of the line, besides
frigates. The number of the latter has never been mentioned.
The extracts of letters, which you will see in our paper of this
day, are from General Washington, President Huntington and
our Delegates in Congress to me. That from Bladensburg is
from a particular acquaintance of mine, whose credit cannot be
doubted. The distress we are experiencing from want of leather
to make shoes, is great. I am sure you have thought of pre-
venting it in future, by the appointment of a commissary of
hides, or some other good regulation for saving and tanning the
hides, which the consumption of your army will afford.
I have the honor to be, with all possible esteem and respect, Sir,
your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO GENERAL GATES.
RICHMOND, October 15, 1780.
SIR, I am rendered not a little anxious by the paragraph of
yours of the 7th instant, wherein you say, "It is near a month
since I received any letter from your Excellency ; indeed, the re-
ceipt of most that I have written to you remain unacknowledged."
You ought, within that time, to have received my letter of Sep-
tember the 3d, written immediately on my return to this place,
after a fortnight's absence ; that of September the llth, acknowl-
edging the receipt of yours which covered drafts for money ;
that of September the 23d, on the subject of batteaux at Tay-
CORRESPONDENCE. 263
lor's ferry, wagons, maps of Virginia, wintering the French
fleet in the Chesapeake, our new levies, and provisions from our
lower counties ; and that of October the 4th, in answer to yours
of September the 24th. and 27th. I begin to apprehend treach-
ery in some part of our chain of expresses, and beg the favor of
you, in your next, to mention whether any, and which of these
letters have come to hand. This acknowledges the receipt of
yours of September the 28th, and October the 3d, 5th, and 7th.
The first of these was delivered four or five days ago by Captain
Drew. He will be permitted to return as you desire, as we
would fulfil your wishes in every point in our power, as well as
indulge the ardor of a good officer. Our militia from the west-
ern counties, are now on their march to join you. They are
fond of the kind of service in which Colonel Morgan is gener-
ally engaged, and are made very happy by being informed you
intend to put them under him. Such as pass by this place, take
muskets in their hands. Those from the southern counties be-
yond the Blue Ridge, were advised to carry their rifles. For
those who carry neither rifles nor muskets, as well as for our
eighteen months' men, we shall send on arms as soon as wagons
can be procured. In the meantime, I had hoped that there were
arms for those who should first arrive at Hillsborough, as by
General Stevens's return, dated at his departure thence, there
were somewhere between five and eight hundred muskets (I
speak from memory, not having present access to the return) be-
longing to this State, either in the hands of the few militia who
were there, or stored. Captain Fauntleroy, of the cavalry, gives
me hopes he shall immediately forward a very considerable sup-
ply of accoutrements, for White's and Washington's cavalry. He
told me yesterday, he had received one hundred and thirteen
horses for that service, from us. Besides those, he had rejected
sixty odd, after we had purchased them, at 30 apiece. Nel-
son's two troops were returned to me, deficient only twelve
horses, since which, ten have been sent to him by Lieutenant
Armstead. I am not a little disappointed, therefore, in the num-
ber of cavalry fit for duty, as mentioned in the letter you en-
264 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
closed me. Your request (as stated in your letter of the 7th)
that we will send no men into the field, or even to your camp,
that are not well furnished with shoes, blankets, and every ne-
cessary for immediate service, would amount to a stoppage of
every man ; as we have it not in our power to furnish them
with real necessaries completely. I hope they will be all shod.
What proportion will have blankets, I cannot say : we purchase
every one which can be found out ; and now I begin to have a
prospect of furnishing about half of them with tents, as soon as
they can be made and forwarded. As to provisions, our agent,
Eaton, of whom I before wrote, informs me in a letter of the
5th instant, he shall immediately get supplies of beef into mo-
tion, and shall send some corn by a circuitous navigation. But
till we receive our wagons from the western country, I cannot
hope to aid you in bread. I expect daily to see wagons coming
in to us. The militia were ordered to rendezvous at Hillsbo-
rough, expecting they would thence be ordered by you into ser-
vice. I send you herewith, a copy of Henry's map of Virginia.
It is a mere cento of blunders. It may serve to give you a gen-
eral idea of the courses of rivers, and positions of counties.
We are endeavoring to get you a copy of Fry and Jefferson's ;
but they are now very scarce. I also enclose you some news-
papers, in which you will find a detail of Arnold's apostasy and
villany.
I am, with all sentiments of sincere respect and esteom, Sir,
your most obedient and most humble servant.
P. S. Just as I was closing my letter, yours of the 9th instant
was put into my hands. I enclose, by this express, a power to
Mr. Lambe, quarter-master, to impress for a month, ten wagons
from each of the counties of Brunswick, Mecklenburg, Lunen-
burg, Charlotte, and Halifax, and direct him to take your orders,
whether they shall go first to you, or come here. If the latter,
we can load them with arms and spirits. Before their month is
out, I hope the hundred wagons from the westward will have
COEEESPONDENCE. 265
come in. We will otherwise provide a relief for these. I am
perfectly astonished at your not having yet received my letters
before mentioned. I send you a copy of that of the 4th of
October, as being most material. I learn from one of General
Muhlenburg's family, that five wagons have set out from hence,
with three hundred stand of arms, &c. However, the General
writes to you himself.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, October 22, 1780.
SIR, I have this morning received certain information of the
arrival of a hostile fleet in our bay, of about sixty sail. The
debarkation of some light horse, in the neighborhood of Ports-
mouth, seems to indicate that as the first scene of action. We
are endeavoring to collect as large a body to oppose them as we
can arm ; this will be lamentably inadequate, if the enemy be
in any force. It is mortifying to suppose that a people, able
and zealous to contend with their enemy, should be reduced to
fold their arms for want of the means of defence. Yet no re-
sources, that we know of, insure us against this event. It has
become necessary to divert to this new object, a considerable
part of the aids we had destined for General Gates. We are
still, however, sensible of the necessity of supporting him, and
have left that part of the country nearest him uncalled on, at
present, that they may reinforce him as soon as arms can be re-
ceived. We have called to the command of our forces Generals
Weeden and Muhlenburg, of the line, and Nelson and Stevens
of the militia. You will be pleased to make to these such ad-
ditions as you may think proper. As to the aids of men, I ask
for none, knowing that if the late detachment of the enemy
shall have left it safe for you to spare aids of that kind, you
will not await my application. Of the troops we shall raise,
there is not a single man who ever saw the face of an enemy.
Whether the Convention troops will be removed or not, is yet
266 JEFFEKSON'S WOEKS.
undetermined. This must depend on the force of the enemy,
and the aspect of their movements.
I have the honor to be your Excellency's most obedient hum-
ble servant.
TO MAJOR GENERAL GATES.
Ix COUNCIL, Oct. 22d, 1780.
SIR, The letters which accompany this will inform you of
the arrival of a large fleet of the enemy within our capes, and
that they have begun their debarkation.* We are taking meas-
ures to collect a body to oppose them, for which purpose it seems
necessary to retain such regulars, volunteers and militia as have
not yet gone on to you. We have left the counties of Lunen-
burg, Mecklenburg, Halifax, and all above them on the south
side of James river, uncalled on, that they may be in readiness to
reinforce you as soon as arms can be procured. I am in hopes
the eighteen months' men and western militia, who will have
joined you with the volunteers from Washington and Montgom-
ery, as proposed by Col. Preston, and the eighteen months' militia,
will be a useful reinforcement to you, and shall continue to divide
our attention, both as to men and provisions, between the army in
your front and that which is posting itself within our own country.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest esteem, Sir, your
most obedient and most humble servant.
P. S. Col. Carrington is arrived since writing the above, and
[* About the 22<1 of Oct. 1780, a British fleet made its appearance in the Chesa-
peake, having on board some three thousand troops, under the command of General
Leslie. Different detachments were landed near Portsmouth, Hampton, and on the
bay-side of Princess Anne. The whole force was subsequently collected at Ports-
mouth; but Leslie, probably disappointed in his expectation of forming a juncture
with Cornwallis, suddenly re -embarked for South Carolina. On the 29th of the fol-
lowing December, Arnold made his appearance, with twenty-seven sail of vessels,
within the Virginian capes, and commenced his invasion. On 26th of March, 1781,
he was superseded in his command by General Phillips, who joined him at Ports-
mouth, with some two thousand troops. ED.]
COKKESPONDENCE. 267
says you want thirty horses to move your artillery. They shall
be immediately sent to you.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, October 25, 1780.
SIR, I take the liberty of enclosing to you letters from Gov-
ernor Hamilton, for New York. On some representations re-
ceived by Colonel Towles, that an indulgence to Governor
Hamilton and his companions to go to New York, on parole,
would produce the happiest effect on the situation of our officers
in Long Island, we have given him, Major Hay, and some of
the same party at Winchester, leave to go there on parole. The
two former go by water, the latter by land.
By this express I hand on, from General Gates to Congress,
intelligence of the capture of Augusta, in Georgia, with consid-
erable quantities of goods ; and information, which carries a fair
appearance, of the taking of Georgetown, in South Carolina, by
a party of ours, and that an army of six thousand French and
Spaniards had landed at Sunbury. This is the more credible, as
Cornwallis retreated from Charlotte on the 12th instant, with
great marks of precipitation. Since my last to you, informing
you of an enemy's fleet, they have landed eight hundred men in
the neighborhood of Portsmouth, and some more on the bay side
of Princess Anne. One thousand infantry landed at New-ports-
news, on the morning of the 23d, and immediately took possess-
ion of Hampton. The horse were proceeding up the road.
Such a corps as Major Lee's would be of infinite service to us
Next to a naval force, horse seems to be most capable of protect-
ing a country so intersected by waters.
I am, with the most sincere esteem, your Excellency's mosl
obedient and most humble servant.
268 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, October 26, 1780.
SIR, The Executive of this State think it expedient, under
our present circumstances, that the prisoners of war under the
Convention of Saratoga, be removed from their present situa-
tion. It will be impossible, as long as they remain with us, to
prevent the hostile army from being reinforced by numerous de-
sertions from this corps ; and this expectation may be one among
the probable causes of this movement of the enemy. Should,
moreover, a rescue of them be attempted, the extensive disaffec-
tion which has of late been discovered, and the almost total
want of arms in the hands of our good people, render the suc-
cess of such an enterprise by no means desperate. The fear of
this, and the dangerous convulsions to which such an attempt
would expose us, divert the attention of a very considerable part
of our militia from an opposition to an invading enemy. An
order has been, therefore, this day issued to Colonel Wood, to
take immediate measures for their removal ; and every aid has
been, and will be given him, for transporting, guarding, and
subsisting them on the road, which our powers can accomplish.
Notice hereof is sent to his Excellency Governor Lee, on whose
part, I doubt not, necessary preparations will be made.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest esteem and respect,
your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
TO GENERAL GATES.
RICHMOND, October 28, 1780.
SIR, Your letters of the 14th, 20th and 21st have come to
hand, and your despatches to Congress have been regularly for-
warded. I shall attend to the caveat against Mr. Ochiltree's
bill. Your letter to Colonel Senf remains still in my hands, as
it did not come till the enemy had taken possession of the
ground, on which I knew him to have been, and I have since
CORRESPONDENCE. 269
no certain information where a letter might surely find him.
My proposition as to your bills in favor of the quarter-master,
referred to yours of September 27th. I have notified to the
Continental quarter-master, your advance of nine hundred dol-
lars to Cooper. As yet, we have received no wagons. I wish
Mr. Lambe may have supplied you. Should those from the
western quarter not come in, we will authorize him or some other,
to procure a relief, in time, for those first impressed. We are
upon the eve of a new arrangement as to our commissary's and
quarter-master's departments, as the want of money, introducing
its substitute force, requires the establishment of a different kind
of system.
Since my first information to you of the arrival of an enemy,
they have landed about eight hundred men near Portsmouth,
some on the bay side of Princess Anne, one thousand at Hamp-
ton, and still retained considerable part on board their ships.
Those at Hampton, after committing horrid depredations, have
again retired to their ships, which, on the evening of the 26th,
were strung along the road from New-ports-news, to the mouth
of Nansemond, which seems to indicate an intention of coming
up James river. Our information is, that they have from four to
five thousand men, commanded by General Leslie, and that they
have come under convoy of one forty-gun ship, and some frigates
(how many has never been said), commanded by Commodore
Rodney. Would it not be worth while to send out a swift boat
from some of the inlets of Carolina, to notify the French Ad-
miral that his enemies are in a net, if he has leisure to close the
mouth of it ? Generals Muhlenburg and Nelson are assembling
a force to be ready for them, and General Weeden has come to
this place, where he is at present employed in some arrange-
ments. We have ordered the removal of the Saratoga prisoners,
that we may have our hands clear for these new guests.
I have the honor to be, with the most perfect esteem and re-
spect, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant.
270 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
1O HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, November 3, 1780.
SIR, Since I had the honor of writing to your Excellency,
on the 25th ultimo, the enemy have withdrawn their forces from
the North of James River, and have taken post at Portsmouth,
which, we learn, they are fortifying. Their highest post is Suf-
folk, where there is a very narrow and defensible pass between
Nansemond river and the Dismal Swamp, which covers the
country below, from being entered by us. More accurate infor-
mation of their force, than we at first had, gives us reason to
suppose them to be from twenty-five hundred to three thousand
strong, of which between sixty and seventy are cavalry. They
are commanded by General Leslie, and were convoyed by the
Romulus, of forty guns, the Blonde, of thirty-two guns, the De-
light sloop, of sixteen, a twenty-gun ship of John Goodwick's,
and two row gallies, commanded by Commodore Grayton. We
are not assured, as yet, that they have landed their whole force.
Indeed, they give out themselves, that after drawing the force
of this State to Suffolk, they mean to go to Baltimore. Their
movements had induced me to think they came with an expecta-
tion of meeting with Lord Cornwallis in this country, that his
precipitate retreat has left them without a concerted object, and
that they were waiting further orders. Information ' of this
morning says, that being informed of Lord Cornwallis's retreat,
and a public paper having been procured by them, wherein were
printed the several despatches which brought this intelligence
from General Gates, they unladed a vessel and sent her off to
Charleston immediately. The fate of this army of theirs hangs
on a very slender naval force, indeed.
The want of barracks at fort Frederick, as represented by Col-
onel Wood, the difficulty of getting wagons sufficient to move
the whole Convention troops, and the state of uneasiness in which
the regiment of guards is, have induced me to think it would be
better to move these troops in two divisions ; and as the whole
danger of desertion to the enemy, and correspondence with the
CORRESPONDENCE. 271
disaffected in our southern counties, is from the British only, (for
from the Germans we have no apprehensions on either head,) we
have advised Colonel Wood to move on the British in the first
division, and to leave the Germans in their present situation, to
form a second division, when barracks may be erected at fort
Frederick. By these means, the British may march immediately
under the guard of Colonel Crochet's battalion, while Colonel
Taylor's regiment of guards remains with the Germans. I can-
not suppose this will be deemed such a separation as is provided
against by the Convention, nor that their officers will wish to
have the whole troops crowded into barracks, probably not suf-
ficient for half of them. Should they, however, insist on their
being kept together, I suppose it would be the opinion that the
second division should follow the first as soon as possible, and
that their being exposed, in that case, to a want of covering,
would be justly imputable to themselves only. The delay of the
second division, will lessen the distress for provisions, which
may, perhaps, take place on their first going to the new post, be-
fore matters are properly arranged.
I have the honor to be, with great esteem and respect, your
Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, November 10, 1780.
SIR, I inclose your Excellency a copy of an intercepted let-
ter from Major General Leslie, to Lord Cornwallis.* It was
taken from a person endeavoring to pass through the country
* TO LORD CORNWALLIS.
PORTSMOUTH, Virginia, November 4th, 1780.
Mr LORD, I have been here near a week, establishing a post. I wrote to you to
Charleston, and by another messenger, 'by land. I cannot hear, for a certainty,
where you are : I wait your orders. The bearer is to be handsomely rewarded, if ha
brings me any note or mark from your Lordship. A. L.
272 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
from Portsmouth towards Carolina. When apprehended, and a
proposal made to search him, he readily consented to be searched,
but, at the same time, was observed to put his hand into his
pocket and carry something towards his mouth, as if it were a
quid of tobacco ; it was examined, and found to be a letter, of
which the inclosed is a copy, written on silk paper, rolled up in
gold-beater's skin, and nicely tied at each end, so as not to be
larger than a goose-quill. As this is the first authentic disclosure
of their purpose in coming here, and may serve to found, with
somewhat more of certainty, conjectures respecting their future
movements, while their disappointment in not meeting with Lord
Cornwallis may occasion new plans at New York, I thought it
worthy of communication to your Excellency.
Some deserters were taken yesterday, said to be of the British
Convention troops, who have found means to get to the enemy at
Portsmouth, and were seventy or eighty miles on their way back
to the barracks, when they were taken. They were passing un-
der the guise of deserters from Portsmouth.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest esteem and respect,
your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
TO *.
RICHMOND, November 10, 1780.
SIR, Your favor of the 3d instant, enclosing Colonel Pres-
ton's letter, came to hand on the 8th. The proposals mentioned
in the Colonel's letter, for sending volunteers to you, were ac-
cepted, and put, as was necessary, into such precise form as that
all parties might know what they had a right to expect. In do-
ing this, two circumstances happened to interfere with what had
been expected. We required that they should be subject to
your orders, and those of such other officer as you should place
them under : this was to enable you to make use of them in
[* Probably addressed to General Gates.]
CORRESPONDENCE. 273
constituting the corps you had proposed under General Morgan ;
2, that there should be two companies of rifles only to each bat-
talion : this was the advice of General Morgan in a conversa-
tion with me. We have since dispensed with the last of these
conditions, and allowed every man to carry his rifle, as we found
that absolutely necessary to induce them to go. Colonel Skiller,
of Boletourt, writes me he has 150 engaged, and we shall en-
deavor to prevail upon Colonel Campbell to raise another corps,
in which, if he undertakes it, I trust he will succeed. I am
much at a loss what should be done as to the prisoners taken at
King's Mountain. I do not think Montgomery Courthouse a
good place, because it is very disaffected. It is too near their
own country, and would admit their co-operation in any enter-
prize ou our lead mines, which are about eight miles from
thence. I have taken measures for continuing their march
under a guard northwardly, and in the meantime for receiving
instructions from Congress where to terminate their journey.
The British Convention troops will proceed immediately to Fort
Frederick in Maryland. The Germans will remain in Albemarle
till accommodations can be provided for them in the same place.
From them we have no apprehensions of desertion to the enemy.
Some British were taken yesterday, who are said to have been
with the enemy, and were returning to the barracks. Two or
three days ago, a British emissary from Portsmouth was taken
endeavoring to proceed -towards Carolina. On a proposal to
search him, they observed him to put his hand in his pocket and
put something to his mouth like a quid of tobacco. On exam-
ination it was found to be a letter, of which the enclosed is a
copy, written on silk paper, rolled up in gold beater's skin, and
nicely tied at each end, the whole not larger than a goose-quill.
By this you will find our conjectures verified, that they expected
to meet with Lord Cornwallis in the neighborhood at least of
this county, and are disappointed and without an object. Can
you not take measures for finding out the other messenger to
Lord Cornwallis, who went by land ? The force we shall now
immediately have together, authorizes me to assure you, you
VOL. i. 18
274 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
need not apprehend their penetrating any distance southwardly.
I only lament that this measure should have intercepted our re-
inforcements to you. We have left all the counties south of
James River, and nearer to Hillsborough than Portsmouth, un-
called on, that they may be ready to go to the aid of our South-
ern friends whenever arms can be procured.
I am, with the greatest esteem and respect, Sir, your most
obedient and most humble servant.
TO EDWARD STEVENS.
RICHMOND, November 10, 1780.
SIR, Your two letters of October 24th and October have
been duly received. I have been informed that the beeves which
have been collected in Princess Anne and Norfolk, to be sent
southwardly, were the first things which fell into the hands of
the enemy. We received notice of this invasion a few hours
after you left this place, and despatched a letter to recall you,
which we expected would have found you in Petersburg. How-
ever, you had gone on, and as there should be a general officer
with the men from this State in the Southern service, and we
have here three general officers, we have not repeated our call
for your assistance. The force called on to oppose the enemy,
is as yet in a most chaotic state, consisting of fragments of three
months' militia, eight months' men, eighteen months' men, vol-
unteers, and new militia.
Were it possible to arm men, we would send on substantial
reinforcements to you, notwithstanding the presence of the ene-
my with us ; but the prospect of arms with us is very bad in-
deed. I have never received a line from Mr. Lambe as to his
success in pressing wagons. None have yet come in from the
westward. The Executive were so far from allowing the eight
months' men to enlist into the Volunteer Corps, as you say, they
pretend they were expressly excluded from it in the several pro-
positions we made for raising volunteers. Nothing of momenc
CORRESPONDENCE. 275
has happened here since the arrival of the enemy. General
Muhlenburg is at Stoaner's Mills, at the head of Pagan Creek,
with our main force. General Nelson is on the north side of
James River with another body. General Weeden is gone to
join the one or the other. A British emissary was taken two or
three days ago with a letter from General Leslie to Lord Corn-
wallis, informing him he was at Portsmouth, but could not learn
where his Lordship was ; that he had sent one letter to him to
Charlestown by water, another by land, and waited his orders.
Cannot measures be taken to apprehend the messenger who
went by land ?
I am, with the greatest esteem, Sir, your most humble
servant.
TO GENERAL GATES.*
RICHMOND, November 19, 1780.
SIR, The vessel which had been sent by General Leslie to
Charlestown, as we supposed, returned about the 12th instant.
The enemy began to embark soon after from Portsmouth, and
in the night of the 15th, completed the embarkation of their
whole force. On the morning of the 16th, some of our people
entered Portsmouth. They had left their works unfinished and
undestroyed. Great numbers of negroes, who had gone over to
them, were left, either for the want of ship-room or through
choice. They had not moved from Elizabeth river at 11 o'clock
a.m. of the 16th. They gave out that they intended to go up
James River ; but the precipitate abandoning of works on receipt
of some communication or other from Charlestown, was not likely
to be for the purpose of coming up James River. I received this
intelligence by express from General Muhlenburg yesterday morn-
ing. As the enemy's situation was such as to give reason to ex-
[* After the battle of Camdeu August 16th, 1180 Congress removed General
Gates from the command of the Southern army, and placed General Green at its
head. In December, 1780, he assumed the command.]
276 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
pect every moment a movement in some direction, I delayed
sending off notice to you, in hopes that that movement would
point out their destination. But no such information being yet
come to hand, I think it proper no longer to delay communicat-
ing to you so much.
Since writing so far, your favor of the 8th instant comes to
hand, accompanied by one from General Stevens at Hillsborough
of the 10th a strange derangement, indeed, our riders have got
into, to be nine days coming from Hillsborough. I shall be very
happy if the departure of the enemy, which I hourly expect to
be confirmed, shall leave us at liberty to send you a substantial
reinforcement. The meh,being now in the field, may be marched
directly southwardly. What may be its precise amount, I can-
not say, till I get from General Muhlenburg a return of the
eighteen months' men, the eight months' men, and militia, who
had been stopped here on their way to the southward, and from
General Lawson a return of the volunteers he has engaged to go
to the southward.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest esteem, Sir, your
most obedient and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, November 26, 1180.
SIR, I have been honored with your Excellency's letter of
the 8th instant. Having found it impracticable to move, sud-
denly, the whole Convention troops, British and German, and it
being represented that there could not, immediately, be covering
provided for them all at Fort Frederick, we concluded to march
off the British first, from whom was the principal danger of de-
sertion, and to permit the Germans, who show little disposition
to join the enemy, to remain in their present quarters till some-
thing further be done. The British, accordingly, marched the
20th instant. They cross the Blue Ridge at Rock Fish Gap,
and proceed along that valley. I am to apprise your Excellency,
CORRESPONDENCE. 277
that the officers of every rank, both British and German, but par-
ticularly the former, have purchased within this State some of
the finest horses in it. You will be pleased to determine, whether
it be proper that they carry them within their lines. I believe
the Convention of Saratoga entitles them to keep the horses they
then had. But I presume none of the line, below the rank of
field officers, had a horse. Considering the British will be now
at Fort Frederick, and the Germans in Albemarle, Alexandria
seems to be the most central point to which there is navigation.
Would it not, therefore, be better that the flag vessel, solicited by
General Phillips, should go to that place ? It is about equally
distant from the two posts. The roads to Albemarle are good.
I know not how those are which lead to Fort Frederick. Your
letter referring me to General Green, for the mode of construct-
ing light portable boats, unfortunately did not come to hand till
he had left us. We had before determined to have something
done in that way, and as they are still unexecuted, we should be
greatly obliged by any draughts or hints, which could be given
by any person within the reach of your Excellency.
I received advice, that on the 22d instant, the enemy's fleet
got all under way, and were standing towards the capes : as it
still remained undecided whether they would leave the bay or
turn up it, I waited the next stage of information, that you
might so far be enabled to judge of their destination. This I
hourly expected, but it did not come till this evening, when I
am informed they all got out to sea in the night of the 22d.
What course they steered afterwards, is not known. I must do
their General and Commander the justice to say, that in every
case to which their attention and influence could reach, as far as
I have been well informed, their conduct was such as does them
the greatest honor. In the few instances of wanton and un-
necessary devastation, they punished the aggressors.
I have the honor to be,
Your Excellency's most obedient humble servant.
278 JEFFEKSON'S WORKS.
TO EDWARD STEVENS.
RICHMOND, November 26, 1780.
SIR, The enemy, which lately invaded us, left our capes in
the night of the 22d instant. What course they steered after-
wards, is not known. Another fleet of transports, under the
command of Admiral Rodney, fell down to the Hook on the
llth instant. As this, as well as the fleet, which lately left us,
is destined for Charleston, we shall march from their present
encampment all the forces who are so equipped as that they can
proceed to distant service. With them, will go on between three
and four hundred tents belonging to this State. Three hundred
more are on the road from Philadelphia, and as many to follow.
As Baron Steuben remains here to organize our forces, I shall be
obliged, by special returns of the eighteen months' men, eight
months' men, and three months' Militia, which have or shall
come unto you as frequently as convenient. The Assembly
being now met, will shortly, I hope, furnish us with money, so
that we may be once more able to send supplies to the south-
ward. We have collected here, at length, by impress principles,
about thirty wagons, which have been delivered to the Con-
tinental Quarter-Master, to be sent on with stores to Taylor's
Ferry.
I am, with great esteem, sir,
Your most obedient humble servant.
TO LT. JOHN LOUIS DE UNGER.*
RICHMOND, November 30th, 1780.
SIR, The letter which covers this, being of a public nature,
I wished to acknowledge separately the many things personally
obliging to me, expressed in your two letters. The very small
amusement which it has been in my power to furnish, in order
[* One of the Convention prisoners, in Albemarle.J
CORRESPONDENCE. 279
to lighten some of your heavy hours, by no means merited the
acknowledgment you make. Their impression must be as-
cribed to your extreme sensibility rather than to their own
weight. My wishes for your happiness give me participation in
your joy at being exchanged, sensibly, however, alloyed by a
presentiment of the loss I shall sustain, when I shall again be
permitted to withdraw to that scene of quiet retirement, abstracted
from which I know no happiness in this world. Your line of life
must have given you attachments to objects of a very different
nature. When the course of events shall have removed you to
distant scenes of action, where laurels, not tarnished with the
blood of my country, may be gathered, I shall urge sincere
prayers for your obtaining every honor and preferment which
may gladden the heart of a soldier. On the other hand, should,
your fondness for philosophy resume its merited ascendancy, is
it impossible to hope that this unexplored country may tempt
your residence by holding out materials wherewith to build a
fame, founded on the happiness and not the calamities of human
nature ? Be this as it may, whether philosopher or soldier, I
wish you many felicities, and assure you that I am, with great
personal esteem, Sir,
Your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, December 15, 1*780.
SIR, I had the honor of writing to your Excellency on the
subject of an expedition contemplated by this State, against the
British post at Detroit, and of receiving your answer of October
the 10th. Since the date of my letter, the face of things has so
far changed, as to leave it no longer optional in us to attempt or
decline the expedition, but compels us to decide in the affirma-
tive, and to begin our preparations immediately. The army the
enemy at present have in the south, the reinforcements still ex-
280 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
pec ted there, and their determination to direct their future exer-
tions to that quarter, are not unknown to you. The regular force,
proposed on our part to counteract those exertions, is such, either
from the real or supposed inability of this State, as by no means
to allow a hope that it may be effectual. It is, therefore, to be
expected that the scene of war will either be within our country,
or very nearly advanced to it ; and that our principal dependence
is to be on militia, for which reason it becomes incumbent to keep
as great a proportion of our people as possible free to act in that
quarter. In the meantime, a combination is forming in the
westward, which, if not diverted, will call thither a principal and
most valuable part of our militia. From intelligence received,
we have reason to expect that a confederacy of British and In-
dians, to the amount of two thousand men, is formed for the pur-
pose of spreading destruction and dismay through the whole ex-
tent of our frontier in the ensuing spring. Should this take place,
we shall certainly lose in the South all aids of militia beyond the
Blue Ridge, besides the inhabitants who must fall a sacrifice in
the course of the savage irruptions.
There seems to be but one method of preventing this, which
is, to give the western enemy employment in their own country.
The regular force Colonel Clarke already has, with a proper
draft from the militia beyond the Alleghany, and that of three or
four of our most northern counties, will be adequate to the reduc-
tion of Fort Detroit, in the opinion of Colonel Clarke ; and he
assigns the most probable reasons for that opinion. We have,
therefore, determined to undertake it, and commit it to his direc-
tion. Whether the expense of the enterprise shall be defrayed
by the Continent or State, we will leave to be decided hereafter
by Congress, in whose justice we can confide, as to the determi-
nation. In the meantime, we only ask the loan of such neces-
saries as, being already at Fort Pitt, will save time and an im-
mense expense of transportation. These articles shall either be
identically or specifically returned ; should we prove successful,
it is not improbable they may be where Congress would choose
to keep them. I am, therefore, to solicit your Excellency's or-
CORRESPONDENCE. 281
der to the commandant of Fort Pitt, for the articles contained
in the annexed list, which shall not be called for until every-
thing is in readiness ; after which, there can be no danger of
their being wanted for the post at which they are : indeed,
there are few of the articles essential for the defence of the
post.
I hope your Excellency will think yourself justified in lending
us this aid, without awaiting the effect of an application elsewhere,
as such a delay would render the undertaking abortive, by post-
poning it to the breaking up of the ice in the lake. Independent
of the favorable effects, which a successful enterprise against De-
troit must produce to the United States, in general, by keeping
in quiet the frontier of the northern ones, and leaving our western
militia at liberty to aid those of the South, we think the like
friendly office performed by us to the States, whenever desired,
and almost to the absolute exhausture of our own magazines, give
well-founded hopes that we may be accommodated on this occa-
sion. The supplies of military stores, which have been furnished
by us to Fort Pitt itself, to the northern army, and, most of all, to
the southern, are not altogether unknown to you. I am the more
urgent for an immediate order, because Colonel Clarke awaits
here your Excellency's answer by the express, though his pres-
ence in the western country, to make preparations for the expe-
dition, is so very necessary if you enable him to undertake it.
To the above, I must add a request to you to send for us to Pitts-
burg, persons proper to work the mortars^ &c., as Colonel Clarke
has none such, nor is there one in this State. They shall be in
the pay of this State, from the time they leave you. Any money
necessary for their journey, shall be repaid at Pittsburg, without
fail, by the first of March.
At the desire of the General Assembly, I take the liberty of
transmitting to you the enclosed resolution ; and have the honor
to be, with the most perfect esteem and regard, your Excellency's
most obedient, and most humble servant.
282 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, January 10, 1781.
SIR, It may seem odd, considering the important events
which have taken place in this State within the course of ten
days, that I should not have transmitted an account of them to
your Excellency ; but such has been their extraordinary rapidity,
and such the unremitted attention they have required from all
concerned in government, that I do not recollect the portion of
time which I could have taken to commit them to paper.
On the 31st of December, a letter, from a private gentleman to
General Nelson, came to my hands, notifying, that in the morn-
ing of the preceding day, twenty-seven sail of vessels had entered
the capes ; and from the tenor of the letter, we had reason to
expect, within a few hours, further intelligence ; whether they
were friends or foes, their force, and other circumstances. We
immediately despatched General Nelson to the lower country,
with powers to call on the militia in that quarter, or act otherwise
as exigencies should require ; but waited further intelligence, be-
fore we would call for militia from the middle or upper country.
No further intelligence came until the 2d instant, when the former
was confirmed ; it was ascertained they had advanced up James
River in Wanasqueak bay. All arrangements were immediately
taken, for calling in a sufficient body of militia for opposition In
the night of the 3d, we received advice that they were at anchor
opposite Jamestown ; we then supposed Williamsburg to be their
object. The wind, however, which had hitherto been unfavor-
able, shifted fair, and the tide being also in their favor, they as-
cended the river to Kennons' that evening, and, with the next tide,
came up to Westover, having, on their way, taken possession of
some works we had at Hood's, by which two or three of their
vessels received some damage, but which were of necessity
abandoned by the small garrison of fifty men placed there, on the
enemy's landing to invest the works. Intelligence of their having
quitted the station at Jamestown, from which we supposed they
meant to land for Williamsburg, and of their having got in the
CORRESPONDENCE. 283
evening to Kennons', reached us the next morning at five o'clock,
and was the first indication of their meaning to penetrate towards
this place or Petersburg. As the orders for drawing militia here
had been given but two days, no opposition was in readiness.
Every effort was therefore necessary, to withdraw the arms and
other military stores, records, &c., from this place. Every effort
was, accordingly, exerted to convey them to the foundry five
miles, and to a laboratory six miles, above this place, till about
sunset of that day, when we learned the enemy had come to an
anchor at Westover that morning. We then knew that this, and
not Petersburg was their object, and began to carry across the
river everything remaining here, and to remove what had been
transported to the foundry and laboratory to Westham, the
nearest crossing, seven miles above this place, which operation
was continued till they had approached very near. They marched
from Westover at two o'clock in the afternoon of the 4th, and
entered Richmond at one o'clock in the afternoon of the 5th. A
regiment of infantry and about thirty horse continued on, without
halting, to the foundry. They burnt that, the boring mill, the
magazine and two other houses, and proceeded to Westham ; but
nothing being in their power there, they retired to Richmond.
The next morning, they burned some buildings of public and pri-
vate property, with what stores remained in them, destroyed a
great quantity of private stores, and about twelve o'clock, retired
towards Westover, where they encamped within the neck the
next day.
The loss sustained is not yet accurately known. As far as I
have been able to discover, it consisted, at this place, of about
three hundred muskets, some soldiers' clothing to a small amount,
some quarter-master's stores, of which one hundred and twenty
sides of leather was the principal article, part of the artificers' tools,
and three wagons. Besides which, five brass four pounders
which we had sunk in the river, were discovered to them, raised
and carried off. At the foundry we lost the greater part of the
papers belonging to the Auditor's office, and of the books and pa-
pers of the Council office. About five or six tons of powder, as
234 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
we conjecture, was thrown into the canal, of which there will be
a considerable saving by re-manufacturing it. The roof of the
foundry was burned, but the stacks of chimneys and furnaces not
at all injured. The boring mill was consumed. Within less than
forty-eight hours from the time of their landing, and nineteen
from our knowing their destination, they had penetrated thirty-
three miles, done the whole injury, and retired. Their numbers,
from the best intelligence I have had, are about fifteen hundred
infantry ; and, as to their cavalry, accounts vary from fifty to one
hundred and twenty ; the whole commanded by the parricide
Arnold. Our militia, dispersed over a large tract of country, can
be called in but slowly. On the day the enemy advanced to this
place, two hundred only were embodied. They were of this
town and its neighborhood, and were too few to do anything.
At this time they are assembled in pretty considerable numbers
on the south side of James River, but are not yet brought to a point.
On the north side are two or three small bodies, amounting in the
whole, to about nine hundred men. The enemy were at four
o'clock yesterday evening still remaining in their encampment at
Westover and Berkeley neck. In the meanwhile, Baron Steu-
ben, a zealous friend, has descended from the dignity of his proper
command to direct our smallest movements. His vigilance has,
in a great measure, supplied the want of force in preventing the
enemy from crossing the river, which might have been very
fatal. He has been assiduously employed in preparing equip-
ments for the militia as they should assemble, pointing them to
a proper object, and other offices of a good commander. Should
they loiter a little longer, and he be able to have a sufficient
force, I still flatter myself they will not escape with total im-
punity. To what place they will point their next exertions we
cannot even conjecture. The whole country on the tide waters
and some distance from them is equally open to similar insult.
I have the honor to be, with every sentiment of respect, your
Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.
CORRESPONDENCE. 285
TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
RICHMOND, January 15, 1781.
SIR, As the dangers which threaten our western frontiers the
ensuing spring, render it necessary that we should send thithei
Colonel Crocket's battalion, at present on guard at Fredericktown,
but raised for the western service, I thought it necessary to give
your Excellency previous information thereof, that other forces
may be provided in time to succeed to their duties. Captain
Reid's troop of horse, if necessary, may be continued a while
longer on guard.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, your Excel-
lency's most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
RICHMOND, January 15, 1781.
SIR, I received some time ago from Major Forsyth, and af-
terwards from you, a requisition to furnish one half of the sup-
plies of provision for the Convention troops, removed into Mary-
land. I should sooner have done myself the honor of writing to
you on this subject, but that I hoped to have laid it before you
more fully than could be done in writing, by a gentleman who
was to pass on other public business to Philadelphia. The late
events in this State having retarded his setting out, I think it my
duty no longer to postpone explanation on this head.
You cannot be unapprised of the powerful armies of our en-
emy, at this time in this and the southern States, and that their
future plan is to push their successes in the same quarter, by still
larger reinforcements. The forces to be opposed to these must
be proportionably great, and these forces must be fed. By whom
are they to be fed ? Georgia and South Carolina are annihilated,
at least as to us. By the requisition to us to send provisions into
Maryland, it is to be supposed that none are to come to the south-
286 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
ern army from any State north of this ; for it would seem incon-
sistent, that while we should be sending North, Maryland and
other States beyond that, should be sending their provisions
South. Upon North Carolina, then, already exhausted by the
ravages of two armies, and on this State, are to depend for sub-
sistence those bodies of men who are to oppose the greater part
of the enemy's force in the United States, the subsistence of the
German, and of half the British Conventioners. To take a
view of this matter on the Continental requisitions of November
the 4th, 1780, for specific quotas of provisions, it is observable
that North Carolina and Virginia are to furnish 10,475,740
pounds of animal food, and 13,529 barrels of flour, while the
States north of these will yield 25,293,810 pounds of animal
food, and 106,471 barrels of flour.
If the greater part of the British armies be employed in the
South, it is to be supposed that the greater part of the American
force will be sent there to oppose them. But should this be the
case, while the distribution of the provisions is so very unequal,
would it be proper to render it still more so, by withdrawing a
part of our contributions to the support of posts northward of
us ? It would certainly be a great convenience to us, to deliver
a portion of our specifics at Fredericktown, rather than in Caro-
lina; but I leave it to you to judge, whether this would be
consistent with the general good or safety. Instead of send-
ing aids of any kind to the northward, it seems but too certain
that unless very timely and substantial assistance be received
from thence, our enemies are yet far short of the ultimate term
of their successes. I beg leave, therefore, to refer to you whether
the specifics of Maryland, as far as shall be necessary, had not
better be applied to the support of the posts within it, for which
its quota is much more than sufficient, or, were it otherwise
whether those of the States north of Maryland had not better
be called on, than to detract anything from the resources of the
southern opposition, already much too small for the encounter to
which it is left. I am far from wishing to count or measure our
contributions by the requisitions of Congress. Were they ever
CORRESPONDENCE. 287
so much beyond these, I should readily strain them in aid of any
one of our sister States. But while they are so far short of those
calls to which they must be pointed in the first instance, it would
be great misapplication to divert them to any other purpose ;
and I am persuaded you will think me perfectly within the line
of duty, when I ask a revisal of this requisition.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, sir,
Your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
RICHMOND, January 17, 1781.
SIR, I do myself the honor of transmitting to your Excel-
lency a resolution of the General Assembly of this Common-
wealth, entered into in consequence of the resolution of
Congress of September the 6th, 1780, on the subject of the Con-
federation. I shall be rendered very happy if the other States
of the Union, equally impressed with the necessity of that im-
portant convention, shall be willing to sacrifice equally to its com-
pletion. This single event, could it take place shortly, would
overweigh every success which the enemy have hitherto ob-
tained, and render desperate the hopes to which those successes
have given birth.
I have the honor to be, with the most real esteem and respect,
your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO THE VIRGINIA DELEGATES IN CONGRESS.
RICHMOND, January 18, 1781.
GENTLEMEN, I enclose you a Resolution of Assembly, direct-
ing your conduct as to the navigation of the Mississippi.
The loss of powder lately sustained by us (about five tons),
together with the quantities sent on to the southward, have re-
288 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
duced our stock very low indeed. We lent to Congress, in tho
course of the last year (previous to our issues for the southern
army), about ten tons of powder. I shall be obliged to you, to
procure an order from the board of war, for any quantity from
five to ten tons, to be sent us immediately from Philadelphia or
Baltimore, and to enquire into and hasten, from time to time,
the execution of it. The stock of cartridge-paper is nearly ex-
hausted. I do not know whether Captain Irish, or what other
officer, should apply for this. It is essential that a good stock
should be forwarded, and without a moment's delay. If there
be a rock on which we are to split, it is the want of muskets,
bayonets and cartouch-boxes.
The occurrences, since my last to the President, are not of any
magnitude. Three little rencounters have happened with the
enemy. In the first, General Smallwood led on a party of two
or three hundred militia, and obliged some armed vessels of the
enemy to retire from a prize they had taken at Broadway's, and
renewing his attack the next day with a four-pounder or two (for
on the first day he had only muskets), he obliged some of their
vessels to fall down from City Point to their main fleet at West-
over. The enemy's loss is not known ; ours was four men
wounded. One of the evenings, during their encampment at
Westover and Berkeley, their light horse surprised a party of about
one hundred or one hundred and fifty militia at Charles City
Court House, killed and wounded four, and took, as has been
generally said, about seven or eight. On Baron Steuben's ap-
proach towards Hood's, they embarked at Westover ; the wind
which, till then, had set directly up the river from the time of
their leaving Jamestown, shifted in the moment to the opposite
point. Baron Steuben had not reached Hood's, by eight or ten
miles, when they arrived there. They landed their whole army
in the night, Arnold attending in person. Captain Clarke (of
Kaskaskias) had been sent on with two hundred and forty men
by Baron Steuben, and having properly disposed of them in am-
buscade, gave them a deliberate fire, which killed seventeen on
the spot, and wounded thirteen. They returned it in confusion
CORRESPONDENCE. 289
by which we had three or four wounded, and our party being so
small and without bayonets, were obliged to retire, on the
enemy's charging with bayonets. They fell down to Cobham,
whence they carried all the tobacco there (about sixty hogs-
heads) ; and the last intelligence was, that on the 16th, they
were standing for New-ports-news. Baron Steuben is of opinion,
they are proceeding to fix a post in some of the lower counties.
Later information has given no reason to believe their force more
considerable than we at first supposed. I think, since the arrival
of the three transports which had been separated in a storm, they
may be considered as about two thousand strong. Their naval
force, according to the best intelligence, is the Charon, of forty-
four guns, Commodore Symmonds, the Amphitrite, Iris, Thames,
and Charlestown frigates, the Forvey, of twenty guns, two sloops
of war, a privateer ship and two brigs. We have about thirty-
seven hundred militia embodied, but at present they are divided
into three distant encampments : one under General Weeden, at
Fredericksburg, for the protection of the important works there ;
another under General Nelson, at and near Williamsburg ; and a
third under Baron Steuben, at Cabin Point. As soon as the
enemy fix themselves, these will be brought to a point.
I have the honor to be, with very great respect, gentlemen,
your most obedient servant.
To
RICHMOND, January 21, 1781.
SIR, Acquainted as you are with the treasons of Arnold, I need
say nothing for your information, or to give you a proper senti-
ment of them. You will readily suppose, that it is above all
things desirable to drag him from those under whose wing he is
now sheltered. On his march to and from this place, I am cer-
[* This letter has no address, but it was probably to General Muhlenburg.]
VOL. I. 19
290 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
tain it might have been done with facility by men of enterprise
and firmness. I think it may still be done, though perhaps not
quite so easily. Having peculiar confidence in the men from the
western side of the mountains, I meant, as soon as they should
come down, to get the enterprise proposed to a chosen number
of them : such whose courage and whose fidelity would be
above all doubt. Your perfect knowledge of those men person-
ally, and my confidence in your discretion, induces me to ask
you to pick from among them proper characters, in such numbers
as you think best, to reveal to them our desire, and engage them
to undertake to seize and bring off this greatest of all traitors.
Whether this may be best affected by their going in as friends,
and awaiting their opportunity, or otherwise, is left to themselves.
The smaller the number the better, so that they be sufficient to
manage him. Every necessary caution must be used on their
part, to prevent a discovery of their design by the enemy, as,
should they be taken, the laws of war will justify against them
the most rigorous sentence. I will undertake, if they are suc-
cessful in bringing him off alive, that they shall receive five
thousand guineas reward among them. And to men, formed for
such an enterprise, it must be a great incitement to know that
their names will be recorded with glory in history, with those
of Vanwert, Paulding, and Williams. The enclosed order from
Baron Steuben will authorize you to call for and dispose of any
force you may think necessary, to place in readiness for covering
the enterprise and securing the retreat of the party. Mr. New-
ton, the bearer of this, and to whom its contents are communi-
cated in confidence, will provide men of trust to go as guides.
These may be associated in the enterprise or not, as you please.
But let that point be previously settled, that no difficulties may
arise as to the parties entitled to participate of the reward. You
know how necessary profound secrecy is in this business, even
if it be not undertaken.
CORRESPONDENCE. 291
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, February 8, 1*781.
SIR, I have just received intelligence, which, though from a
private hand, I believe is to be relied on, that a fleet of the ene-
my's ships have entered Cape Fear river, that eight of them had
got over the bar, and many others were laying off ; and that it
was supposed to be a reinforcement to Lord Cornwallis, under
the command of General Prevost. This account, which had
. come through another channel, is confirmed by a letter from
General Parsons at Halifax, to the gentleman who forwards it
to me. I thought it of sufficient importance to be communi-
cated to your Excellency by the stationed expresses. The fatal
want of arms puts it out of our power to bring a greater force
into the field, than will barely suffice to restrain the adventures
of the pitiful body of men they have at Portsmouth. Should
any more be added to them, this country will be perfectly open
to them, by land as well as water.
I have the honor to be, with all possible respect, your Excel-
lency's most obedient and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, February 12, 178!.
SIR, The enclosed extract of a letter from Governor Nash,*
which I received this day, being a confirmation of the intelli-
gence I transmitted in a former letter, I take the liberty of trans-
mitting it to your Excellency. I am informed, through a private
channel on which I have considerable reliance, that the enemy
had landed five hundred troops under the command of a Major
Craig, who were joined by a number of disaffected ; that they
had penetrated forty miles ; that their aim appeared to be the
[* Governor of North Carolina.]
292 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
magazine at Kingston, from which place they were about twenty
miles distant.
Baron Steuben transmits to your Excellency a letter from Gen-
eral Greene, by which you will learn the events which have
taken place in that quarter since the defeat of Colonel Tarleton,
by General Morgan. These events speak best for themselves,
and no doubt will suggest what is necessary to be done to pre-
vent the successive losses of State after State, to which the
want of arms and of a regular soldiery, seem more especially to
expose those in the South.
I have the honor to be, with every sentiment of respect, your
Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, February 17, 1781.
SIR, By a letter from .General Greene, dated Guilford Court
House, February 10th, we are informed that Lord Cornwallis
had burnt his own wagons, in order to enable himself to move
with greater facility, and had pressed immediately on.* The
[* General Greene, after taking command of the Southern army, divided his force,
and sent one division of it, under General Morgan, to the western part of South
Carolina. Cornwallis, who was now nearly prepared to invade North Carolina, un-
willing to leave Morgan in his rear, sent Tarleton in pursuit of him. The two de-
tachments met on the 17th of January, 1781, when the battle of Cow pen a was
fought, and Tarleton defeated. Cornwallis, after the defeat of Tarleton, abandoned
the invasion of North Carolina for the present, and started in pursuit of Morgan.
Greene, suspecting his intention, hastened to join Morgan, and, after a fatiguing
march, effected a junction at Guilford Court House. Daring this march he was
closely pursued by Cornwallis, who, as .stated in the above letter, " burnt his own
wagons in order to enable himself to move with greater facility." After this junc-
tion at Guilford Court House, Greene crossed the Dan, into Virginia again narrowly
escaping the pursuit of Cornwallis, who now retired to Hillsborough, where, erect-
ing the royal standard, he issued his proclamation, inviting the loyalists to join him,
and sent Tarleton with a detachment to support a body of them collected between
the Havre and Deep Rivers. Greene, having despatched Generals Pickens and Lee
to watch the movements of Tarleton, and having been reinforced in Virginia, now
CORRESPONDENCE. 293
prisoners taken at the Cowpens, were happily saved by the ac-
cidental rise of a water-course, which gave so much time as to
withdraw them from the reach of the enemy. Lord Cornwallis
had advanced to the vicinities of the Moravian towns, and was
stiJl moving on rapidly. His object was supposed to be to com-
pel General Greene to an action, which, under the difference of
force they had, would probably be ruinous to the latter. Gen-
eral Greene meant to retire by the way of Boyd's ferry, on the
Roanoke. As yet he had lost little or no stores or baggage, but
they were far from being safe. In the instant of receiving this
intelligence, we ordered a reinforcement of militia to him, from
the most convenient counties in which there was a hope of find-
ing any arms. Some great event must arise from the present
situation of things, which, for a long time, will determine the
condition of southern affairs.
Arnold lies close in his quarters. Two days ago, I received
information of the arrival of a sixty-four gun ship and two frig-
ates in our bay, being part of the fleet of our good ally at Rhode
Island. Could they get at the British fleet here, they are sufli-
3ient to destroy them ; but these being drawn up into Elizabeth
River, into which the sixty-four cannot enter, I apprehend they
could do nothing more than block up the river. This, indeed,
would reduce the enemy, as we could cut off their supplies by
land ; but the operation being tedious, would probably be too
dangerous for the auxiliary force. Not having yet had any par-
ticular information of the designs of the French Commander, I
cannot pretend to say what measures this aid will lead to.
Our proposition to the Cherokee Chiefs, to visit Congress, for
the purpose of preventing or delaying a rupture with that nation,
was too late. Their distresses had too much ripened their alien-
ation from us, and the storm had gathered to a head, when Major
Martin got back. It was determined to carry the war into their
country, rather than await it in ours, and thus disagreeably cir-
cumstanced, the issue has been successful.
returned into North Carolina, and fought the battle of GUiilford Court House on the
th of March, 1781. ED.]
294 JEFFERSON'S WOKKS.
The militia of this State and North Carolina penetrated into
their country, burned almost every town they had, amounting tc
about one thousand houses in the whole, destroyed fifty thousand
bushels of grain, killed twenty-nine, and took seventeen prisoners.
The latter are mostly women and children.
I enclose your Excellency the particulars as reported to me.
Congress will be pleased to determine on Col. Campbell's propo-
sition to build the fort at the confluence of the Holston and Ten-
nessee.
I have the honor to be, &c., your Excellency's most obedient
humble servant,
P. S. Since writing the above, I have received information
which, though not authentic, deserves attention : that Lord Corn-
wallis had got to Boyd's ferry on the 14th. I am issuing orders,
in consequence, to other counties, to embody and march all the
men they can arm. In this fatal situation, without arms, there
will be no safety for the Convention troops but in their removal,
which I shall accordingly order. The prisoners of the Cowpens
were at New London (Bedford Court House) on the 14th.
TO GENERAL GATES.
RICHMOND, February 17, 1781.
DEAR GENERAL, The situation of affairs here and in Carolina,
is such as must shortly turn up important events, one way or the
other. By letter from General Greene, dated Guilford Court
House, February the 10th, I learn that Lord Cornwallis, rendered
furious by the affair at the Cowpens and the surprise of George-
town, had burned his own wagons, to enable himself to move
with facility, had pressed on to the vicinity of the Moravian
towns, and was still advancing. The prisoners, taken at the Cow-
pens, were saved by a hair's-breadth accident, and Greene was
retreating. His force, two thousand regulars, and no militia ;
CORRESPONDENCE.
Cornwallis's, three thousand. General Davidson was killed in a
skirmish. Arnold lies still at Portsmouth with fifteen hundred
men. A French sixty-four gun ship, and two frigates of thirty-
six each, arrived in our bay three days ago. They would suffice
to destroy the British shipping here (a forty four frigate, and a
twenty,) could they get at them. But these are withdrawn up
Elizabeth river, which the sixty-four cannot enter. We have
ordered about seven hundred riflemen from Washington, Mont-
gomery and Bedford, and five hundred common militia from
Pittsylvania and Henry, to reinforce General Greene ; and five
hundred new levies will march from Chesterfield Court House,
in a few days. I have no doubt, however, that the southwestern
counties will have turned out in greater numbers before our orders
reach them.
I have been knocking at the door of Congress for aids of all
kinds, but especially of arms, ever since the middle of summer.
The speaker, Harrison, is gone to be heard on that subject.
Justice, indeed, requires that we should be aided powerfully.
Yet if they would repay us the arms we have lent them, we
should give the enemy trouble, though abandoned to ourselves.
After repeated applications, I have obtained a warrant for your
advance money, 18,000, which I have put into the hands of Mr.
McAlister, to receive the money from the Treasurer, and carry it
to you.
I am, with very sincere esteem, dear Sir, your friend and ser-
vant.
TO COLONEL CAMPBELL.
RICHMOND, February 17, 1781,
SIR, I have received your several favors by Mr. Sathim, and
am much pleased at the happy issue of the expedition against
the Cherokees. I wish it to be used for the purpose of bringing
about peace, which, under our present circumstances, is as neces-
sary for us, as it can possibly be to them.
296 JEFFEKSON'S WORKS.
If you can effect this, a right should be reserved of building a
fort at the confluence of Holston and Tennessee ; a matter
which we must refer to Congress, as it lies not within our boun-
dary. The prisoners you have taken had better be kept for the
purpose of exchanging for any of ours taken by them. Should
any surplus be on hand at the conclusion of peace, they should
be given up. Nancy Ward seems rather to have taken refuge
with you. In this case, her inclination ought to be followed as
to what is done with her.
As by our laws, the pay of militia is made the same with that
of the Continental troops, and that, by a resolution of Congress,
is to be in the new money of March 18th, 1780, or in old money
at forty for one, I apprehend you will be paid at that rate. By
a late arrangement, the Commissary is directed to have a deputy
in every county. I hope that by their means the militia may
henceforward be better supplied with provisions when proceed-
ing on an expedition. The fort at Powell's Valley you will
please to proceed on. We approve of the company you have
raised for patrolling against the Indians and garrisoning the
fort.
I am, with much respect, sir, your most obedient servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, February 26, 1781.
Sm, I gave you information in my last letter, that General
Greene had crossed the Dan, at Boyd's ferry, and that Lord
Cornwallis had arrived at the opposite shore. Large reinforce-
ments of militia having embodied both in front and rear of the
enemy, he is retreating with as much rapidity as he advanced ;
his route is towards Hillsborough. General Greene re-crossed
the Dan on the 21st, in pursuit of him. I have the pleasure to
inform you, that the spirit of opposition was as universal as could
have been wished for. There was no restraint on the numbers
that embodied, but the want of arms.
CORRESPONDENCE. 297
The British at Portsmouth lie close in their lines. The French
squadron keep them in by water, and since their arrival, as they
put it out of the power of the enemy to cut off our retreat by
sending up Nansemond river, our force has been moved down
close to their lines.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect,
Your most obedient and most humble servant.
TO M. DE MARBOIS.*
RICHMOND, March 4th, 1781.
SIR, I have been honored with your letter of Feb. 5th.
Mr. Jones did put into my hands a paper containing sundry in-
quiries into the present state of Virginia, which he informed me
was from yourself, and some of which I meant to do myself the
honor of answering.
Hitherto it has been in my power to collect a few materials
only, which my present occupations disable me from completing.
I mean, however, shortly to be in a condition which will leave
me quite at leisure to take them up, when it shall be one of my
first undertakings to give you as full information as I shall be able
to do on such of the subjects as are within the sphere of my ac-
quaintance. On some of them, however, I trust Mr. Jones will
engage abler hands. Those in particular which relate to the
commerce of the State, a subject with which I am wholly unac-
quainted, and which is probably the most important in your plan.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, March 8th, 1781.
SIR, I had the pleasure of receiving a letter from General
Greene, dated High-rock Ford, February 29th (probably March the
[* M. de Marbois was attached to the French Legation in Philadelphia. ED.]
298 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
1st), who informs me, that on the night of the 24th Colonel McCal]
surprised a subaltern's guard at Hart's Mill, killed eight, and
wounded and took nine prisoners, and that on the 25th Gen-
eral Pickens and Lieutenant Colonel Lee routed a body of near
three hundred Tories on the Haw river, who were in arms to
join the British army, killed upwards of one hundred, and
wounded most of the rest, which had a very happy effect on the
disaffected in that country.
By a letter from Major Magill, an officer of this State, whom
I had sent to General Greene's head-quarters for the purpose of
giving us regular intelligence, dated Guilford County, March 2d,
I am informed that Lord Cornwallis, on his retreat, erected the
British standard at Hillsborough, that a number of disaffected
under the command of Colonel Piles were resorting to it, when
they were intercepted by General Pickens and Lieutenant Col-
onel Lee, as mentioned by General Greene, and that their com-
manding officer was among the slain : that Lord Cornwallis, after
destroying everything he could, moved down the Haw river
from Hillsborough : that General Greene was within six miles
of him : that our superiority in the goodness, though not in the
number of our cavalry, prevented the enemy from moving with rap-
idity or foraging. Having been particular in desiring Major Magill
to inform me what corps of militia from this State joined Gen-
eral Greene, he accordingly mentioned that seven hundred under
General Stevens, and four hundred from Botetourt, had actually
joined him ; that Colonel Campbell was to join him that day with
six hundred, and that Colonel Lynch with three hundred from
Bedford, was shortly expected : the last three numbers being
riflemen. Besides these mentioned by Major Magill, General
Lawson must, before this, have crossed Roanoke with a body
of militia, the number of which has not been stated to me. Re-
port makes them a thousand ; but I suppose the number to be
exaggerated. Four hundred of our new levies left Chesterfield
Court House on the 25th February, and probably would cross
the Roanoke about the 1st or 2d of March.
I was honored with your Excellency's letter of February the
CORRESPONDENCE.
*
21st, within seven days after its date. We have, accordingly,
been making every preparation on our part which we are able to
make. The militia proposed to co-operate, will be upwards of
four thousand from this State, and one thousand or twelve hun-
dred from Carolina, said to be under General Gregory. The en-
emy are, at this time, in a great measure blockaded by land,
there being a force on the east side of Elizabeth river. They
suffer for provisions, as they are afraid to venture far, lest the
French squadron should be in the neighborhood, and come upon
them. Were it possible to block up the river, a little time would
suffice to reduce them by want and desertions, and would be more
sure in its event than an attempt by storm. I shall be very
happy to have it in my power to hand you a favorable account
of these two armies in the South.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest esteem and respect,
your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
RICHMOND, March 19, 1781.
SIR, I have the honor of enclosing to your Excellency a copy
of a letter from General Greene, with some other intelligence re-
ceived, not.doubting your anxiety to know the movements in the
South. I find we have deceived ourselves not a little by count-
ing on the whole numbers of the militia which have been in
motion, as if they had all remained with General Greene, when,
in fact, they seem only to have visited and quitted him.
The Marquis Fayette arrived at New York on the 15th. His
troops still remained at the head of the bay, till the appearance
of some force which should render their passage down safe.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the highest esteem
and respect, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble
servant.
300 JEFFERSON'S WORKS
TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PKESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
RICHMOND March 21, 1781.
SIR, The enclosed letter will inform you of the arrival of a
British fleet in the Chesapeake bay.
The extreme negligence of our stationed expresses is no doubt
the cause why, as yet, no authentic account has reached us of a
general action, which happened on the 15th instant, about a mile
and a half from Guilford Court House, between General Greene
and Lord Cornwallis. Captain Singleton, an intelligent officer
of Harrison's artillery, who was in the action, has this moment
arrived here, and gives the general information that both parties
were prepared and desirous for action ; the enemy were supposed
about twenty-five hundred strong, our army about four thousand.
That, after a very warm and general engagement, of about an
hour and a half, we retreated about a mile and a half from the
field, in good order, having, as he supposed, between two and
three hundred killed and wounded : the enemy between five
and seven hundred killed and wounded ; that we lost four pieces
of artillery : that the militia, as well as regulars, behaved exceed-
ingly well : that General Greene, he believes, would have re-
newed the action the next day, had it not proved rainy, and
would renew it as soon as possible, as he supposes : that the
whole of his troops, both regulars and militia, were in high
spirits and wishing a second engagement : that the loss has fallen
pretty equally on the militia and regulars : that General Stevens
received a ball through the thigh. Major Anderson, of Mary-
land, was killed, and Captain Barrett, of Washington's cavalry ;
Captain Fauntleroy, of the same cavalry, was shot through the
thigh, and left on the field.
Captain Singleton ; having left the camp the day after the bat-
tle, does not speak from particular returns, none such having
been then made. I must inform your Excellency from him, till
more regular applications can reach you, that they are in extreme
want of lead, cartridge paper and thread. I think it improper,
however it might urge an instantaneous supply, to repeat to you
COKEESPONDENCE. 301
his statement of the extent of their stock of these articles. In a
former letter, I mentioned to you the failure of the vein of our
lead mines, which has left the army here in a state of equal dis-
tress and danger.
I have the honor to be, with very high respect and esteem,
your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
P. S. Look-out boats have been ordered from the seaboard
of the eastern shore, to apprise the Commander of the French
fleet, on its approach, of the British being in the Chesapeake.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
In Council, RICHMOND, March 26, 17S1.
SIR, The appointment of commissioner to the war office of
this State, having lately become vacant, the Executive are de-
sirous to place Colonel William Davies, of the Virginian Conti-
nentals, in that office. This gentleman, however, declines un-
dertaking it, unless his rank in the army, half pay for life and
allowance for depreciation of pay, can be reserved to him ; ob-
serving with justice, that these emoluments, distant as they are,
are important to a person who has spent the most valuable part
of his youth in the service of his country. As this indulgence
rests in the power of Congress alone, I am induced to request it
of them on behalf of the State, to whom it is very interesting
that the office be properly filled, and I may say, on behalf of the
Continent also, to whom the same circumstance is interesting, in
proportion to its reliance upon this State for supplies to the south-
ern war. We should not have given Congress the trouble of
this application, had we found it easy to call any other to the
office, who was likely to answer our wishes in the exercise of it.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the highest respect,
your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
302 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
RICHMOND, March 28, 1781.
SIR, I forward to your Excellency, under cover with this,
copies of letters received from Major General Greene and Baron
Steuben, which will give you the latest account of the situation
of things with us and in North Carolina.
I observe a late resolve of Congress, for furnishing a number
of arms to the southern States ; and I lately wrote you on the
subject of ammunition and cartridge paper. How much of this
State, the enemy thus reinforced, may think proper to possess
themselves of, must depend on their own moderation and caution,
till these supplies arrive. We had hoped to receive by the
French squadron under Monsieur Destouchcs, eleven hundred
stand of arms, which we had at Rhode Island, but were disap-
pointed. The necessity of hurrying forward the troops intended
for the southern operations, will be doubtless apparent from this
letter.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, your Excel-
lency's most obedient and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS.
RICHMOND, March 31, 1781.
SIR, The letters and papers accompanying this will inform
your Excellency of the arrival of a British flag vessel with
clothing, refreshments, money, &c., for their prisoners, under the
Convention of Saratoga. The gentlemen conducting them,
have, on supposition that the prisoners, or a part of them, still
remained in this State, applied to me by letters, copies of which
I transmit your Excellency, for leave to allow water transporta-
tion as far as possible, and then, for themselves to attend them to
the post where they are to be issued, These indulgences were
usually granted them here, but the prisoners being removed, it
CORRESPONDENCE. 303
becomes necessary to transmit the application to Congress for
their direction. In the meantime, the flag will wait in James
river.
Our intelligence from General Greene's camp as late as the
24th, is, that Lord Cornwallis's march of the day before had de-
cided his route to Cross creek.
The amount of the reinforcements to the enemy, arrived at
Portsmouth, is not yet known with certainty. Accounts diifer
from fifteen hundred to much larger numbers. We are informed
they have a considerable number of horse. The affliction of the
people for want of arms is great ; that of ammunition is not yet
known to them. An apprehension is added, that the enterprise
on Portsmouth being laid aside, the troops under the Marquis
Fayette will not come on. An enemy three thousand strong,
riot a regular in the State, nor arms to put in the hands of the
militia, are, indeed, discouraging circumstances.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the highest respect,
your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
RICHMOND, April 7, 1781.
SIR, Hearing that our arms from Rhode Island have arrived
at Philadelphia, I have begged the favor of our Delegates to '
send them on in wagons immediately, and, for the conveyance
of my letter, have taken the liberty of setting the Continental
line of expresses in motion, which I hope our distress for arms
will justify, though the errand be not purely Continental.
I have nothing from General Greene later than the 27th of
March ; our accounts from Portsmouth vary the reinforcements,
which came under General Phillips, from twenty-five hundred
to three thousand. Arnold's strength before, was, I think, re-
duced to eleven hundred. They have made no movement as
yet. Their preparation of boats is considerable ; whether they
304: JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
mean to go southwardly or up the river, no leading circumstance
has yet decided.
I have the honor to be, with the highest respect, your Excel-
lency's most obedient and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
la Council, April 18, 1781.
SIR, I was honored, yesterday with your Excellency's favor
enclosing the resolutions of Congress of the 8th instant, for re-
moving stores and provisions from the counties of Accomack
and Northampton. We have, there no military stores, except a
few muskets in the hands of the militia. There are some col-
lections of forage and provisions belonging to the Continent,
and some to the State, and the country there, generally, fur-
nishes an abundance of forage. But such is the present con-
dition of Chesapeake Bay that we cannot even get an advice
boat across it with any certainty, much less adventure on trans-
portation. Should, however, any interval happen, in which
these articles may be withdrawn, we shall certainly avail our-
selves of it, and bring thence whatever we can.
If I have been rightly informed, the horses there are by no
means such, as that the enemy could apply them to the purposes
of cavalry. Some large enough for the draught may, perhaps,
be found, but of these not many.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, your Excel-
lency's most obedient and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, April 23, 1781.
SIR, On the 18th instant, the enemy came from Portsmouth
up James river, in considerable force, though their numbers are
CORRESPONDENCE. 305
not yet precisely known to us. They landed at Burwell's ferry,
below Williamsburg, and also a short distance above the mouth
of Chickahomony. This latter circumstance obliged Colonel
Innis, who commanded a body of militia, stationed on that side
the river to cover the country from depredation, to retire up-
wards, lest he should be placed between their two bodies. One
of these entered Williamsburg on the 20th, and the other pro-
ceeded to a ship-yard we had on Chickahomony. What injury
they did there, I am not yet informed. I take for granted, they
have burned an unfinished twenty-gun ship we had there.
Such of the stores, belonging to the yard as were movable, had
been carried some miles higher up the river. Two small gallies
also retired up the river. Whether by this, either the stores or
gallies were saved, is yet unknown. I am just informed, from a
private hand, that they left Williamsburg early yesterday morn-
ing. If this sudden departure was not in consequence of some
circumstance of alarm unknown to us, their expedition to Wil-
liamsburg has been unaccountable. There were no public stores
at that place, but those which were necessary for the daily sub-
sistence of the men there. Where they mean to descend next,
the event alone can determine. Besides harassing our militia
with this kind of war, the taking them from their farms at the
interesting season of planting their corn, will have an unfor-
tunate effect on the crop of the ensuing year.
I have heard nothing certain of General Greene since the 6th
instant, except that his head-quarters were on Little river on
the llth.
I have the honor to be, with the highest respect and esteem,
your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant,
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
RICHMOND, May 9, 1781.
Sm, Since the last letter which I had the honor of address-
ing to your Excellency, the military movements in this State,
VOL. i. 20
306 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
except a very late one, have scarcely merited communica-
tion.
The enemy, after leaving Williamsburg, came directly up
James river and landed at City Point, being the point of land
on the southern point of the confluence of Appamattox and
James rivers. They marched up to Petersburg, where they
were received by Baron Steuben, with a body of militia some-
what under one thousand, who, though the enemy were two
thousand and three hundred strong, disputed the ground very
handsomely two hours, during which time the enemy gained
only one mile, and that by inches. Our troops were then or-
dered to retire over a bridge, which they did in perfectly good
order. Our loss was between sixty and seventy, killed, wound-
ed, and taken. The enemy's is unknown, but it must be equal
to ours ; for their own honor they must confess this, as they
broke twice and run like sheep, till supported by fresh troops.
An inferiority in number obliged our force to withdraw about
twelve miles upwards, till more militia should be assembled.
The enemy burned all the tobacco in the warehouses at Peters-
burg and its neighborhood. They afterwards proceeded to Os-
borne's, where they did the same, and also destroyed the residue
of the public armed vessels, and several of private property, and
then came to Manchester, which is on the hill opposite this place.
By this time, Major General Marquis Fayette having been
advised of our danger, had, by forced marches, got here with his
detachment of Continental troops ; and reinforcements of militia
having also come in, the enemy, finding we were able to meet
them on equal footing, thought proper to burn the warehouses
and tobacco at Manchester, and retire to Warwick, where they
did the same. Ill armed and untried militia, who never before
saw the face of an enemy, have, at times, during the course of
this war, given occasions of exultation to our enemies, but they
afforded us, while at Warwick, a little satisfaction in the same
way. Six or eight hundred of their picked men of light in-
fantry, with General Arnold at their head, having crossed the
river from Warwick, fled from a patrole of sixteen horse, every
CORRESPONDENCE. 307
man into his boat as he could, some pushing North, some South,
as their fears drove them. Their whol force then proceeded
to the Hundred, being the point of land within the confluence
of the two rivers, embarked, and fell down the river. Their
foremost vessels had got below Burwell's ferry on the 6th in-
stant, when, on the arrival of a boat from Portsmouth, and a
signal given, the whole crowded sail up the river again with a
fair wind and tide, and came to anchor at Brandon ; there six
days' provision was dealt out to every man ; they landed, and
had orders to march an hour before day the next morning. We
have not yet heard which way they went, or whether they have
gone, but having, about the same time, received authentic infor-
mation that Lord Cornwallis had, on the 1st instant, advanced
from Wilmington half way to Halifax, we have no doubt, put-
ting all circumstances together, that these two armies are form-
ing a junction.
We are strengthening our hands with militia, as far as arms,
either public or private, can be collected, but cannot arm a force
which may face the combined armies of the enemy. It will,
therefore, be of very great importance that General Wayne's
forces be pressed on with the utmost despatch. Arms and a naval
foroe, however, are what must ultimately save us. This movement
of our enemies we consider as most perilous in its consequences.
Our latest advices from General Greene were of the 26th ult.,
when he was lying before Camden, the works and garrison of
which were much stronger than he had expected to find them.
I have the honor to be, with great respect, your Excellency's
most obedient humble servant.
TO THE VIRGINIA DELEGATES IN CONGRESS.
IN COUNCIL, May 10, 1781.
GENTLEMEN, A small affair has taken place between the
British commanding officer in this State, General Phillips, and
308 JEFFERSON'S WOKKS.
the Executive, of which, as he may endeavor to get rid of it
through the medium of Congress, I think it necessary previously
to apprise you.
General Scott obtained permission from the Commandant at
Charleston, for vessels with necessary supplies to go from hence
to them, but instead of sending the original, sent only a copy of
the permission taken by his brigade major. I applied to Gen-
eral Phillips to supply this omission by furnishing a passport for
the vessel. Having just before taken great offence at a threat
of retaliation in the treatment of prisoners, he enclosed his an-
swer to my letter under this address, " To Thomas Jefferson,
Esq., American Governor of Virginia." I paused on receiving
the letter, and for some time would not open it ; however, when
the miserable condition of our brethren in Charleston occurred
to me, I could not determine that they should be left without
the necessaries of life, while a punctilio should be discussing be-
tween the British General and myself ; and, knowing that I had
an opportunity of returning the compliment to Mr. Phillips in a
case perfectly corresponding, I opened the letter.
Very shortly after, I received, as I expected, the permission of
the board of war, for the British flag vessel then in Hampton
Roads with clothing and refreshments, to proceed to Alexandria
I enclosed and addressed it, " To William Phillips, Esq., com-
manding the British forces in the Commonwealth of Virginia."
Personally knowing Phillips to be the proudest man of the proud-
est nation on earth, I well know he will not open this letter ; but
having occasion, at the same time, to write to Captain Gerlach,
the flag-master, I informed him that the Convention troops in this
State should perish for want of necessaries, before any should be
carried to them through this State, till General Phillips either
swallowed this pill of retaliation, or made an apology for his
rudeness. And in this, should the matter come ultimately to
Congress, we hope for their support.
He has the less right to insist on the expedition of his flag, be-
cause his letter, instead of enclosing a passport to expedite ours,
contained only an evasion of the application, by saying he had
CORRESPONDENCE. 309
referred it to Sir Henry Clinton, and in the meantime, he has
come up the river, and taken the vessel with her loading, which
we had chartered and prepared to send to Charleston, and which
wanted nothing but the passport to enable her to depart.
I would further observe to you, that this gentleman's letters to
the Baron Steuben first, and afterwards to the Marquis Fayette,
have been in a style so intolerably insolent and haughty, that
both these gentlemen have been obliged to inform him, that
if he thinks proper to address them again in the same spirit, all
intercourse shall be discontinued.
I am, with great respect and esteem, Gentlemen,
Your most obedient servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
CHARLOTTESVILLK, May 28,1781.
SIR, I make no doubt you will have heard, before this shall
nave the honor of being presented to your Excellency, of the
junction of Lord Cornwallis with the force at Petersburg under
Arnold, who had succeeded to the command on the death of
Major-general Phillips. I am now advised that they have evacu-
ated Petersburg, joined at Westover a reinforcement of two
thousand men just arrived from New York, crossed James river,
and on the 26th instant, were three miles advanced on their way
towards Richmond ; at which place, Major-General the Marquis
Fayette lay with three thousand men, regulars and militia : these
being the whole number we could arm, until the arrival of the
eleven hundred arms from Rhode Island, which are, about this
time, at the place where our public stores are deposited. The
whole force of the enemy within this State, from the best intel-
ligence I have been able to get, is, I think, about seven thousand
men, infantry and cavalry, including, also, the small garrison left
at Portsmouth. A number of privateers, which are constantly
avaging the shores of our rivers, prevent us from receiving any
310 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
aid from the counties lying on navigable waters ; and powerful
operations meditated against our western frontier, by a joint force
of British and Indian savages, have, as your Excellency before
knew, obliged us to embody between two and three thousand
men in that quarter. Your Excellency will judge from this state
of things, and from what you know of our country, what it may
probably suffer during the present campaign. Should the enemy
be able to produce no opportunity of annihilating the Marquis's
army, a small proportion of their force may yet restrain his
movements effectually while the greater part are employed, in
detachment, to waste an unarmed country, and lead the minds
of the people to acquiesce under those events which they see no
human power prepared to ward off. We are too far removed
from the other scenes of war to say, whether the main force of
the enemy be within this State. But I suppose they cannot
anywhere spare so great an army for the operations of the field.
Were it possible for this circumstance to justify in your Excel-
lency a determination to lend us your personal aid, it is evident,
from the universal voice, that the presence of their beloved
countryman, whose talents have so long been successfully em-
ployed in establishing the freedom of kindred States, to whose
person they have still nattered themselves they retained some
right, and have ever looked up, as their dernier resort in distress,
would restore full confidence of salvation to our citizens, and
would render them equal to whatever is not impossible. I can-
not undertake to foresee and obviate the difficulties which lie in
the way of such a resolution. The whole subject is before you,
of which I see only detatched parts ; and your judgment will
be formed on a view of the whole. Should the danger of this
State and its consequence to the Union, be such, as to render it
best for the whole that you should repair to its assistance, the
difficulty would then be, how to keep men out of the field. I
have undertaken to hint this matter to your Excellency, not only
on my own sense of its importance to us, but at the solicitations
of many members of weight in our legislature, which has not
yet assembled to speak their own desires.
CORRESPONDENCE. 311
A few days will bring to me that relief which the constitution
has prepared for those oppressed with the labors of my office,
and a long declared resolution of relinquishing it to abler hand^,
has prepared my way for retirement to a private station : still, as
an individual, I should feel the comfortable effects of your
presence, and have (what I thought could not have been) an ad-
ditional motive for that gratitude, esteem, and respect, with
which I have the honor to be, your Excellency's most obedient
humble servant.
TO THE MARQUIS LA FATETTE.
MONTICELLO, August 4, 1781.
SIR, I am much obliged by the trouble you took in forward-
ing to me the letter of his Excellency, the President of Congress.
It found me in Bedford, an hundred miles southward of this,
where I was confined till within these few days, by an unfortu-
nate fall from my horse. This has occasioned the delay of the
answer which I now take the liberty of enclosing to you, as
the confidential channel of conveyance, pointed out by the
President.
I thank you also for your kind sentiments and friendly offer
on the occasion, which, that I cannot avail myself of, has given
me more mortification than almost any occurrence of my life.
I lose an opportunity, the only one I ever had, and perhaps ever
shall have, of combining public service with private gratifica-
tion. Of seeing countries whose improvements in science, in
arts, and in civilization, it has been my fortune to admire at a
distance, but never to see, and at the same time of lending some
aid to a cause, which has been handed on from its first organiza-
tion to its present stage, by every effort of which my poor facul-
ties were capable. These, however, have not been such as to
give satisfaction to some of my countrymen, and it has become
necessary for me to remain in the State till a later period in the
present year, than is consistent with an acceptance of what has
312 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
been offered me.* Declining higher objects, therefore, my only
one must be to show that suggestion and fact are different things,
and that public misfortune may be produced as well by public
poverty and private disobedience to the laws, as by the misconduct
of public servants.t The independence of private life under the
protection of republican laws will, I hope, yield me the happi-
ness from which no slave is so remote as the minister of a com-
monwealth. From motives of private esteem as well as public
gratitude, I shall pray it to be your lot in every line of life, as no
one can with more truth subscribe himself with the highest
regard and respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble
servant.
TO EDMUND RANDOLPH, ESQ..
MONTICELI.O, September 16, 1781.
DEAR SIR, I have received your letter of the 7th instant.
That, mentioned to have been sent by the preceding post, has
not come to hand, nor two others, which Mrs. Randolph informs
me you wrote before you left Virginia, nor indeed any others,
[* On the 15th of June, 1781, Mr. Jefferson was appointed, with Mr. Adams, Dr.
Franklin, Mr. Jay, and Mr. Lauren?, Minister Plenipotentiary for negotiating; peace,
then expected to be effected through the mediation of the Empress of Russia ED.]
[f In 1781, the depredations of the enemy, and the public and private losses which
they oecasioned, produced the ordinary effect of complaint against those who had
charge of the public defence, and especially against Mr Jefferson (the Governor of
Virginia). A popular clamor was excited against him, and, under the impulses of
the moment, Mr. George Nicholas, a member from Albermarle, moved his impeach-
ment.
The charges were, 1. That he had not, as soon as advised by General Washington
of the meditated invasion, put the country in a state of preparation and defence ; 2.
That during the invasion, he did not use the means of resistance which were at his
command; 3. That he too much consulted his personal safety, when Arnold first en-
tered Richmond, by which others were dispirited and discouraged ; 4. That he iguo-
rniniously fled from Monticello to the neighboring mountain on Tarleton's approach to
Charlottesville ; and 5. That he abandoned the office of Governor as soon as it became
one of difficulty and danger.
Mr. Jefferson has been long since acquitted of these charges by the almost unani-
mous voice of his countrymen. ED.]
CORRESPONDENCE. 313
should you have been so kind as to have written any others.
When I received the first letter from the President of Congress,
enclosing their resolution, and mentioning the necessity of an ex-
peditious departure, my determination to attend at the next session
of the Assembly offered a ready and insuperable obstacle to my
accepting of that appointment, and left me under no necessity
of deliberating with myself whether, that objection being removed,
any other considerations might prevent my undertaking it. I
find there are many, and must, therefore, decline it altogether.
Were it possible for me to determine again to enter into public
business, there is no appointment whatever which would have
been so agreeable to me. But I have taken my final leave of
everything of that nature. I have retired to my farm, my family
and books, from which I think nothing will evermore separate
me. A desire to leave public office, with a reputation not more
blotted than it has deserved, will oblige me to emerge at the next
session of our Assembly, and perhaps to accept of a seat in it.
But as I go with a single object, I shall withdraw when that shall
be accomplished. I should have thought that North Carolina,
rescued from the hands of Britain, Georgia and almost the whole
of South Carolina recovered, would have been sufficiently humili-
ating to induce them to treat with us. If this will ijot do, I hope
the stroke is now hanging over them which will satisfy them
that their views of Southern conquests are likely to be as visionary
as those of Northern. I think it impossible Lord Cornwallis
should escape. Mrs. Randolph will be able to give you all the
news on this subject, as soon as you shall be able to release her
from others. I am, with much esteem, dear Sir, your friend and
servant.
TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.
MONTICELLO, October 28th, 1781.
SIR, I hope it will not be unacceptable to your Excellency
o receive the congratulations of a private individual on your re-
314: JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
turn to your native country, and, above all things, on the import-
ant success which has attended it.* Great as this has been,
however, it can scarcely add to the affection with which we have
looked up to you. And if, in the minds of any, the motives of
prratitude to our good allies were not sufficiently apparent, the
part they have borne in this action must amply evince them.
Notwithstanding the state of perpetual decrepitude to which I
am unfortunately reduced, I should certainly have done myself
the honor of paying my respects to you personally ; but I appre-
hend these visits, which are meant by us as marks of our attach-
ment to you, must interfere with the regulations of a camp, and
be particularly inconvenient to one whose time is too precious to
be wasted in ceremony.
I beg you to believe me among the sincerest of those who
subscribe themselves, your Excellency's most obedient, and most
humble servant.
TO GENERAL GATES
RICHMOND, December ]4th, 1781.
DEAR SIR, I have received your friendly letters of August
2d and November 15th, and some of the gentlemen to whom
you wished them to be communicated not being here, I have
taken the liberty of handing them to some others, so as to an-
swer the spirit of your wish. It seems likely to end, as I ever
expected it would, in a final acknowledgment that good disposi-
tions and arrangements will not do without a certain degree of
bravery and discipline in those who are to carry them into exe-
cution. This, the men whom you commanded, or the greater
part of them at least, unfortunately wanted on that particular
occasion.
I have not a doubt but that, on a fair enquiry, the returning
justice of your countrymen will remind them of Saratoga, and
induce them to recognize your merits. My future plan of life
[* The battle of Yorktown.]
COEKESPONDENCE. 315
scarcely admits a hope of my having the pleasure of seeing you
at your seat ; yet I assuredly shall do it should it ever lie within
my power, and am assured that Mrs. Jefferson will join me in
sincere thanks for your kind sentiments and invitation, and in
expressions of equal esteem for Mrs. Gates and yourself, and in a
certain hope that, should any circumstance lead you within our
reach, you will make us happy by your company at Monticello.
We have no news to communicate. That the Assembly does
little, does not come under that description.
I am, with very sincere esteem, dear sir, your friend and servant.
TO JAMES MADISON.
MONTICELLO, March 24th, 1782.
DEAR SIR, I have received from you two several favors, on
the subject of the designs against the territorial rights of Vir-
ginia.* 1 never before could comprehend on what principle our
rights to the western country could be denied, which would not,
at the same time, subvert the right of all the States to the whole
of their territory. What objections may be founded on the char-
ter of New York, I cannot say, having never seen that charter,
nor been able to get a copy of it in this country. I had thought
to have seized the first leisure on my return from the last Assem-
bly, to have considered and stated our rights, and to have com-
municated to our delegates, or perhaps to the public, so much as
I could trace, and expected to have derived some assistance from
ancient MSS., which I have been able to collect. These, with
my other papers and books, however, had been removed to Au-
[* The title of Virginia to the Northwestern territory was controverted, as early
as 1779, by some of the other States, upon the ground that all lands, the title of
which had originally been in the crown and had never been alienated, were the com-
mon property of the Confederation, by right of conquest the revolution having
transferred the title from the British sovereign to the Confederation. This view was
resisted by Virginia in an able remonstrance to Congress in October, 1779. The
question, however, never came to an issue ; for Virginia, moved by a patriotic im-
pulse, and ready to sacrifice her individual interest to the general good, made a vol-
untary cession of the whole territory to the Confederation.]
316 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
gusta to be out of danger from the enemy, and have not yet been
brought back. The ground on which I now find the question
to be bottomed is so unknown to me that it is out of my power
to say anything on the subject. Should it be practicable for me
to procure a copy of the charter of New York, I shall probably
think on it, and would cheerfully communicate to you whatever
could occur to me worth your notice. But this will probably be
much too late to be of any service before Congress, who doubt-
less will decide, ere long, on the subject. I sincerely wish their
decision may tend to the preservation of peace. If I am not
totally deceived in the determination of this country, the decision
of Congress, if unfavorable, will not close the question. I sup-
pose some people on the western waters, who are ambitious to be
Governors, &c., will urge a separation by authority of Congress.
But the bulk of the people westward are already thrown into
great ferment by the report of what is proposed, to which I think
they will not submit. This separation is unacceptable to us in
form only, and not in substance. On the contrary, I may safely
say it is desired by the eastern part of our country whenever
their western brethren shall think themselves able to stand alone.
In the meantime, on the petition of the western counties, a plan
is digesting for rendering their access to government more easy.
I trouble you with the enclosed to Mons. Marbois. I had the
pleasure of hearing that your father and family were all well
yesterday, by your brother, who is about to study the law in my
neighborhood. I shall always be glad to hear from you, and, if it
be possible for me, retired from public business, to find anything
worth your notice, I shall communicate it with great pleasure.
I am with sincere esteem, dear Sir, your friend and servant.
JAMES MONROE TO THOMAS JEFFERSON.
RICHMOND, llth of May, 1782.
DEAR SIR, As I so lately wrote you by Mr. Short, and have
since daily expected to see you here, I did not propose writing
CORRESPONDENCE. 317
to you till after I should have that pleasure ; but as I begin to
fear you will not abate that firmness and decision which you
have frequently shown in the service of your country, even upon
this occasion, and as I have had an opportunity since I last
wrote of being better informed of the sentiments of those whom
I know you put the greatest value on, I think it my duty to make
you acquainted therewith. ' It is publicly said here, that the peo-
ple of your country informed you that they had frequently elected
you in times of less difficulty and danger than the present to
please you ; but that now they had called you forth into public
office to serve themselves. This is a language which has been
often used in my presence ; and you will readily conceive that,
as it furnishes those who argue on the fundamental maxims of
a Republican government with ample field for declamation, the
conclusion has always been, that you should not decline the
service of your country. The present is generally conceived to
be an important era, which, of course, makes your attendance
particularly necessary. And as I have taken the liberty to give
you the public opinion and desire upon this occasion, and as I
am warmly interested in whatever concerns the public interest
or has relation to you, it will be necessary to add, it is earnestly
the desire of, dear Sir,
Your sincere friend and obedient servant.
TO COLONEL JAMES MONROE.
MONTICELLO, May 20th, 1782.
DEAR SIR, I have been gratified with your two favors of the
6th and 1 1th inst. It gives me pleasure that your county has
been wise enough to enlist your talent into their service. I am
much obliged by the kind wishes you express of seeing me also
in Richmond, and am always mortified when anything is ex-
pected from me which I cannot fulfill, and more especially if it
relate to the public service. Before I ventured to declare to my
318 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
countrymen my determination to retire from public employment;
I examined well my heart to know whether it were thoroughly
cured of every principle of political ambition, whether no lurk-
ing particle remained which might leave me uneasy, when re-
duced within the limits of mere private life. I became satisfied
that every fibre of that passion was thoroughly eradicated. I
examined also, in other views, my right to withdraw. I consid-
ered that I had been thirteen years engaged in public service
that, during that time, I had so totally abandoned all attention to
my private aifairs as to permit them to run into great disorder and
ruin that I had now a family advanced to years which require
my attention and instruction that, to these, was added the
hopeful offspring of a deceased friend, whose memory must be
forever dear to me, and who have no other reliance for being ren-
dered useful to themselves or their country that by a constant sac-
rifice of time, labor, parental and friendly duties, I had, so far
from gaining the affection of my countrymen, which was the
only reward I ever asked or could have felt, even lost the small
estimation I had before possessed.
That, however I might have comforted myself under the dis-
.approbation of the well-meaning but uninformed people, yet, that
of their representatives was a shock on which I had not calcu-
lated. That this, indeed, had been followed by an exculpatory
declaration. But, in the meantime, I had been suspected in the
eyes of the world, without the least hint then or afterwards
being made public, \vhich might restrain them from supposing
that I stood arraigned for treason of the heart, and not merely
Aveakness of the mind ; and I felt that these injuries, for such
they have been since acknowledged, had inflicted a wound on
my spirit which will only be cured by the all-healing grave. If
reason and inclination unite in justifying my retirement, the laws
of my country are equally in favor of it. Whether the State
may command the political services of all its members to an in-
definite extent, or, if these be among the rights never wholly
ceded to the public power, is a question which I do not find ex-
pressly decided in England. Obiter dictums on the subject I have
CORRESPONDENCE. 319
indeed met with, but the complexion of the times in which
these have dropped would generally answer them. Besides that,
this species of authority is not acknowledged in our possession.
In this country, however, since the present government has
been established, the point has been settled by uniform, pointed
and multiplied precedents. Offices of every kind, and given by
every power, have been daily and hourly declined and resigned
from the Declaration of Independence to this moment. The
General Assembly has accepted these without discrimination of
office, and without ever questioning them in point of right. If the
difference between the office of a delegate and any other could
ever have been supposed, yet in the case of Mr. Thompson
Mason, who declined the office of delegate, and was permitted
so to do by the House, that supposition has been proved to be
groundless. But, indeed, no such distinction of offices can be
admitted. Reason, and the opinions of the lawyers, putting all
on a footing as to this question, and so giving to the delegate the
aid of all the precedents of the refusal of other offices. The
law then does not warrant the assumption of such a power by
the State over its members. For if it does, where is that law ?
nor yet does reason. For though I will admit that this does,
subject every individual, if called on, to an equal tour of political
duty, yet it can never go so far as to submit to it his whole ex-
istence. If we are made in some degree for others, yet, in a
greater, are we made for ourselves. It were contrary to feeling,
and indeed ridiculous to suppose that a man had less rights in
himself than one of his neighbors, or indeed all of them put to-
gether. This would be slavery, and not that liberty which the
bill of rights has made inviolable, and for the preservation of
which our government has been charged. Nothing could so
completely divest us of that liberty as the establishment of the
opinion, that the State has a perpetual right to the services of all
its members. This, to men of certain ways of thinking, would
be to annihilate the blessings of existence, and to contradict the
Giver of life, who gave it for happiness and not for wretch-
edness. And certainly, to such it were better that they had
?,20 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
never been born. However, with these, I may think public
service and private misery inseparably linked together, I have
not the vanity to count myself among those whom the State
would think worth oppressing with perpetual service. I have
received a sufficient memento to the contrary. I am persuaded
that, having hitherto dedicated to them the whole of the active
and useful part of my life, I shall be permitted to pass the rest
in mental quiet. I hope, too, that I did not mistake modes any
more than the matter of right when I preferred a simple act of
renunciation, to the taking sanctuary under those disqualifica-
tions (provided by the law for other purposes indeed but) aiford-
ing asylum also for rest to the wearied. I dare say you did not
expect by the few words you dropped on the right of renunciation
to expose yourself to the fatigue of so long a letter, but I wished
you to see that, if I had done wrong, I had been betrayed by a
semblance of right at least. I take the liberty of enclosing to
you a letter for General Chattellux, for which you will readily
find means of conveyance. But I mean to give you more trou-
ble with the one to Pelham, who lives in the neighborhood of
Manchester, and to ask the favor of you to send it by your serv-
ant express which I am in hopes may be done without ab-
senting him from your person, but during those hours in which
you will be engaged in the house. I am anxious that it should
be received immediately. ****** It will give me
great pleasure to see you here whenever you can favor us with
your company. You will find me still busy, but in lighter occu-
pations. But in these and all others you will find me to retain a due
sense of your friendship, and to be, with sincere esteem, dear Sir,
Your most obedient and most humble servant.
TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
CHESTERFIELD, November 26, 1782.
SIR, I received yesterday the letter with which you have
been pleased to honor me, enclosing the resolution of Congress
CORRESPONDENCE. 321
of the 12th instant, renewing my appointment as one of their
ministers plenipotentiary for negotiating a peace and beg
leave, through you, to return my sincere thanks to that august
body, for the confidence they are pleased to repose in me, and
to tender the same to yourself for the obliging manner in
which you have notified it.* I will employ in this ardu-
ous charge, with diligence and integrity, the best of my poor
talents, which I am conscious are far short of what it requires.
This, I hope, will ensure to me from Congress a kind construc-
tion of all rny transactions. And it gives me no small pleasure,
that my communications will pass through the hands of a gen-
tleman with whom I have acted in the earlier stages of this
contest, and whose candor and discernment I had the good for-
tune then to approve and esteem. Your letter finds me at a dis-
tance from home, attending my family under inoculation. This
will add to the delay which the arrangements of my particular
affairs would necessarily occasion. I shall lose no moment, how-
ever, in preparing for my departure, and shall hope to pay my
respects to Congress and yourself at sometime between the 20th
and the last of December.
I have the honor to be, with very great esteem and respect,
dear Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant.
TO THE CHEVALIER DE CHATTELLTJX.
AMPHILL, November 26, 1782.
DEAR SIR, I received your friendly letters of and June
[* Mr. Jefferson's reasons for now accepting this appointment, which he had pre-
viously declined, are thus explained by himself: " I had, about two months before,
lost the cherished companion of my life [his wife], in whose affection, unabated on
both sides, I had lived the last ten years in unchequered happiness." On the 19th
of December, 1782, he left Monticello for Philadelphia, where he intended to embark
for Europe ; but the French Minister Luzerne, offering him a passage in the French
frigate Romulus, then lying below Baltimore, he accepted the offer. The sailing of
this frigate being delayed by ice, and a British fleet on the coast, information, in the
meantime, reached America that a provisional treaty of peace had been signed by the
American Commissioners, to become absolute on the conclusion of peace between
France and England On the arrival of this information, Mr. Jefferson was released
from his mission, and returned to his home in Virginia on the 15th May, 1783. En.]
VOL. I. 21
322 JEFFERSON'S WORKS
30th, but the latter not till the 17th of October. It found me a
little emerging from the stupor of mind which had rendered me
as dead to the world as was she whose loss occasioned it.* Your
letter recalled to my memory that there were persons still living
of much value to me. If you should have thought me remiss
in not testifying to you sooner, how deeply I had been impressed
with your worth in the little time I had the happiness of being
with you, you will, I am sure, ascribe it to its true cause, the
state of dreadful suspense in which I have been kept all the
summer, and the catastrophe which closed it.
Before that event, my scheme of life had been determined. I
had folded myself in the arms of retirement, and rested all
prospects of future happiness on domestic and literary objects.
A single event wiped away all my plans, and left me a blank
which I had not the spirits to fill up. In this state of mind an
appointment from Congress found me, requiring me to cross the
Atlantic. And that temptation might be added to duty, I was
informed, at the same time, from his Excellency the Chevalier de
Luzerne, that a vessel of force would be sailing about the mid-
dle of December in which you would be passing to France. I
accepted the appointment, and my only object now is, to so has-
ten over those obstacles which would retard my departure, as to
be ready to join you in your voyage fondly measuring your
affection by my own, and presuming your consent. It is not
certain that I can, by any exertion, be in Philadelphia by the
middle of December the contrary is most probable. But hop-
ing it will not be much later, and counting on those procrastina-
tions which usually attend the departure of vessels of size, I
have hopes of being with you in time. This will give me full
leisure to learn the result of your observations on the natural
bridge, to communicate to you my answers to the enquiries of
Monsieur de Marbois, to receive edification from you on these
and other subjects of science ; considering chess, too, as a mat-
ter of science. Should I be able to get out in tolerable time,
[* The death of Mrs. Jefferson.]
CORRESPONDENCE. 323
and any extraordinary delays attend the sailing of the vessel, I
shall certainly do myself the honor of waiting on his Excellency
the Count de Rochambeau, at his head-quarters, and assuring
him in person of my high respect and esteem for him an object
of which I have never lost sight. To yourself, I am unable to
express the warmth of those sentiments of friendship and at-
tachment with which I have the honour to be, dear Sir,
Your most obedient and most humble servant.
TO MR. STEPTOE.
November 26, 1782.
DEAR SIR, I received in August your favor, wherein you
give me hopes of being able to procure for me some of the big
bones. I should be unfaithful to my own feeling, were I not to
express to you how much I am obliged by your attention to the
requests I made you on that subject. A specimen of each of
the several species of bones now to be found, is to me the most
desirable objects in natural history. And there is no expense of
package or of safe transportation which I will not gladly re-
imburse, to procure them safely. Elk horns of very extraor-
dinary size, or anything else uncommon, would be very accepta-
ble. You will hear of my going to Europe, but my trip there
will be short. I mention this, lest you should hesitate forward-
ing any curiosities to me. New London in Bedford, Staunton
in Augusta, or Frederick County, are places from whence I can
surely get them. Any observations of your own on the subject
of the big bones or their history, or on anything else in the
western country, will come acceptably to me, because I know
you see the works of nature in the great and not merely in de-
tail. Descriptions of animals, vegetables, minerals, or other curi-
ous things ; notes as to the Indians' information of the country
between the Mississippi and waters of the South Sea, &c., &c.,
will strike your mind as worthy being communicated. I wish
you had more time to pay attention to them. I perceive by
your letter, you are not unapprized that your services to your
, 324 JEFFEKSON'S WORKS.
country have not made due impression on every mind. That
you have enemies, you must not doubt, when you reflect that
you have made yourself eminent. If you meant to escape
malice, you should have confined yourself within the sleepy line
of regular duty. When you transgressed this, and enterprised
deeds which will hand down your name with honor to future
times, you made yourself a mark for envy and malice to shoot
at. Of these there is enough, you know, both in and out of
office. I was not a little surprised, however, to find one person
hostile to you, as far as he has personal courage to show hostility
to any man. Who he is, you will probably have heard, or may
know him by this description as being all tongue without either
head or heart. In the variety of his crooked schemes, however,
his interest may probably veer about, so as to put it in your
power to be useful to him. In which case, he certainly will be
your friend again, if you want him. That you may long con-
tinue a fit object for his enmity, and for that of every person of
his complexion in the State, which I know can only be by your
continuing to do good to your country and to acquire honor to
yourself, is the earnest prayer of one who subscribes himself,
with great truth and sincerity, dear Sir,
Your friend and servant.
TO JAMES MADISON.
AMPHILL, IN CHESTERFIELD, November 26th, 1782.
DEAR SIR, Your favor by Colonel Basset is not yet come to
hand. The intimation through the attorney, I received the day
before Colonel Eland's arrival, by whom I am honored with
yours of the 14th inst. It finds me at this place attending my
family under inoculation. This will of course retard those ar-
rangements of my domestic affairs, which will of themselves take
time and cannot be made but at home. I shall lose no time,
however, in preparing for my departure. And from the calcula-
tion I am at present enabled to make, I suppose I cannot be in
CORRESPONDENCE. 325
Philadelphia before the 20th of December, and that possibly it
may be the last of that month. Some days I must certainly pass
there, as I could not propose to jump into the midst of a negotia-
tion without a single article of previous information. From these
data, you will be enabled to judge of the chance of availing my-
self of his Excellency, the Chevalier de Luzerne's, kind offers, to
whom I beg you to present my thanks for his friendly attention,
and let him know I shall use my best endeavors to be in time for
the departure of his frigate. No circumstances of a private na-
ture could induce me to hasten over the several obstacles to my
departure more unremitting than the hope of having the Chevalier
de Chattellux as a companion in my voyage. A previous ac-
quaintance with his worth and abilities, had impressed me with
an affection for him which, under the then prospect of never
seeing him again, was perhaps imprudent.
I am with very sincere esteem, dear Sir, your very affectionate
friend, and humble servant.
TO GEORGE WASHINGTON.
PHILADELPHIA, January 22d, 1783.
SIR, Having lately received a call from Congress to pass the
Atlantic in the character of their minister for negotiating peace,
I cannot leave the continent without separating myself for a
moment from the general gratitude of my country, to offer my
individual tribute to your Excellency for all you have suffered
and all you have effected for us. Were I to indulge myself in
those warm effusions which this subject forever prompts, they
would wear an appearance of adulation very foreign to my
nature ; for such is become the prostitution of language that
sincerity has no longer distinct terms in which to express her
own truths. Should you give me occasion, during the short
mission on which I go, to render you any service beyond the
water, I shall, for a proof of my gratitude, appeal from language
o the zeal with which I shall embrace it. The negotiations to
326 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
which I am joined may perhaps be protracted beyond our present
expectations, in which case, though I know you must receive
much better intelligence from the gentlemen whose residence
there has brought them into a more intimate acquaintance with
the characters and views of the European courts, yet I shall
certainly presume to add my mite, should it only serve to con-
vince you of the warmth of those sentiments of respect and
esteem with which I have the honor to be, your Excellency's
most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO THE CHEVALIER DE LA LUZERNE, MINISTER OF FRANCE.
BALTIMORE, February 7th, 1783.
SIR, The Chevalier de Ville Brun was so kind as to commu-
nicate to me yesterday your Excellency's letter to him of Jan-
uary, together with the intelligence therein referred to. I feel
myself bound to return you my thanks, for your orders to the
Guadeloupe frigate to receive me, if I should think a passage
should be hazarded under present circumstances. According to
this information (which is the most worthy of credit of any we
have received here), it would seem that our capture would be un-
avoidable were we to go out now. This, therefore, is a risk to
which I cannot think of exposing his Majesty's vessel and sub-
jects ; however I might be disposed to encounter personal haz-
zards, from my anxiety to execute, with all the promptitude in
my power, a service which has been assigned to me. I shall
therefore wait with patience the arrival oi the moment when the
Chevalier de Ville Brun shall be of opinion that the one or the
other of the vessels may venture out without any greater risk
than he shall think proportioned to her proper object, indepen-
dently of mine. It has been suggested to me this evening, that
perhaps their safe departure might be greatly forwarded by their
falling down to York, or Hampton, there to be ready at a mo-
ment's warning, to avail themselves of those favorable circum-
stances which the present season sometimes offers.
CORRESPONDENCE. 327
But of this, yourself will be the proper judge. I cannot close my
letter without expressing to you my obligations to the Chevalier
de Ville Brun for the particular attention he has shown to my
accommodation on board his ship. The apartments he has had
constructed for me are ample and commodious, and his politeness
and deportment as an officer are an agreeable presage of every-
thing that shall depend on him. I have delivered to him the
two large packets you were pleased to put into my hands, and
he will dispose of them according to your orders.
I have the honor to be, with the highest sentiments of esteem,
your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON, SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
BALTIMORE, February 7, 1783.
SIR, I arrived here on the 30th of the last month, and had a
short interview the same evening with the Chevalier de Ville
Brun, commander of the Ramilies. There appeared at that time
little apprehension but that we might sail in a few days, but we
were not very particular in our conference, as we expected to see
each other again. The severity of the cold, however, which
commenced that night, obliged the Chevalier de Ville Brun to
fall twelve miles below this place, and excluded all correspon-
dence with him till yesterday, when I found means to get through
the ice on board his ship. He then communicated to me, by
direction of his Excellency, the minister of France, intelligence
as to the number and force of the cruisers now actually watching
the capes of the Chesapeake. I must acknowledge that the ap-
pearances are such as to render a capture certain were we to
hazard it. The minister was pleased at the same time to submit
the Guadeloupe to my wishes, if I chose to adventure. I take
the liberty of troubling you with a copy of my letter to him on
that subject. I should certainly be disposed to run very con-
siderable risks myself to effect my passage ; but should think it
an unfortunate introduction to an ally, who has already done so
328 JEFFEKSON'S WORKS.
much for us, were I to add to his losses and disbursements that
of a valuable ship and crew. I wish that the present delay
offered some period less distant than the lassitude of an avaricious
enemy to watch for prey. Perhaps you may be able to put me
on some more expeditious mode of passage than the one under
which I am acquiescing at present. I shall be much pleased to
adopt any such which may come recommended from you, with-
out regard to personal risk or trouble. In the meantime, any in-
telligence which you can collect and will be pleased to give me
as to the state of our coast, will be of utility in determining
whether and when we shall depart hence.
I have the honor to be with very great esteem and respect. Sir,
your most obedient and most humble servant.
P. S. Your letter of the 31st ultimo came safely to hand
v th the packet to Mr. Adams accompanying it.
GEORGE WASHINGTON TO THE HONORABLE THOMAS JEFFERSON.
NEWBURGH, 10th February, 1783.
DEAR SIR, I have been honored with your favor of 22d of
January from Philadelphia. I feel myself much flattered by
your kind remembrance of me in the hour of your departure
from this continent, for the favorable sentiments you are pleased
to entertain of my services for this our common country. To
merit the approbation of good and virtuous men is the height of
my ambition, and will be a full compensation for all my toils
and sufferings in the long and painful contest in which we have
been engaged. It gave me great pleasure to hear that the call
upon you from Congress to pass the Atlantic in the character of
one of their ministers for negotiating peace had been repeated ;
but I hope you will have found the business already done. The
speech of his Britannic Majesty is strongly indicative of the olive
branch ; and yet, as he observes, unforseen events may place it
CORRESPONDENCE. 329
out of reach. At present, the prospect of peace absorbs, or
seems to do so, every other consideration among us ; and would,
it is to be feared, leave us in a very unprepared state to continue
the war, if the negotiations at Paris should terminate otherwise
than in a general pacification. But I will hope that it is the
dearth of other news that fills the mouths of every person with
peace, while their minds are employed in contemplating on the
means of prosecuting the war, if necessity should drive us to it.
You will please to accept my grateful thanks for your obliging
offer of services during your stay in France. To hear from you
frequently will be an honor and very great satisfaction to, dear
Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON TO THOMAS JEFFERSON.
PHILADELPHIA, 14th February, 1783.
SIR, I have delayed in answering your favor of the
7th instant until I could obtain the sense of Congress on the
matter it contains. I conceive it hardly possible, while the
British cruisers retain their present station, for you to elude their
vigilance in either of the ships offered to your choice. This,
concurring with the late advices from England, has induced
Congress to pass the enclosed resolution.* We have reason to
conjecture that peace is already concluded ; whether it is or not,
a few days will determine. I transmit the speech of his Britannic
Majesty, which, with what you already know of the state of our
negotiations, will enable you to form your opinion on the same
* BY THE UNITED STATES IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED :
February 14, 1783.
The committee consisting of Mr. Jones, Mr. Rutledge, and Mr. Wilson, to whom
was referred a letter of the 7th from the Honorable Thomas Jefferson, reported
thereon, whereupon on motion of Mr. Gorham, seconded by Mr. Wolcott, ordered :
That the Secretary for Foreign Affairs inform Mr. Jefferson, that it is the pleasure
of Congress, considering the advices lately received in America and the probable
situation of affairs in Europe, that he do not proceed on his intended voyage until
he shall receive their further instructions. CHARLES THOMPSON, (copied)
Secretary.
330 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
ground that we do. I have the honor to be, Sir, with great
respect and esteem, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO R. R. LIVINGSTON.
BALTIMORE, February 14, 1783.
SIR, I apprised you in my former letter of the causes which
had so long delayed my departure. These still continue. I have
this moment received a printed copy of his British Majesty's
speech to his Parliament, by which we learn that the prelimina-
ries between Great Britain and America, among which is one for
the acknowledgment of our independence, have been provisionally
agreed to on his part. That the negotiations with the other pow-
ers at war were considerably advanced, and that he hoped, in a
very short time, they would end in terms of pacification. As
considerable progress has been made in the negotiations for
peace since the appointment with which Congress were pleased
to honor me, it may have become doubtful whether any commu-
nications I could make or any assistance I could yield to the very
able gentlemen in whose hands the business already is, would
compensate the expense of prosecuting my voyage to Europe.
I therefore beg leave through you, Sir, to assure Congress that I
desire this question to be as open to them now as it was on the
day of my appointment, and that I have not a wish either to go
or to stay. They will be pleased to weigh the economy of the
one measure against the chance which the other may offer of my
arriving in such time as that any communications which have
been confided to me may produce effect on definitive articles.
I shall continue here for the prosecution of my voyage, under the
orders before received, or for its discontinuance, should that be
more eligible to Congress, and be signified at any moment before
my departure. I have the honor to be, &c.
CORRESPONDENCE. 331
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON TO THOMAS JEFFERSON.
PHILADELPHIA, February 18, 1783.
SIR, I was yesterday honored with your favor of the 14th,
which I shall lay before Congress this morning. As you have
by this time received their resolution which I had the honor to
send you by the last post, and again enclosed, you will be re-
lieved in some measure from your embarrassments, though not
entirely of your suspense with respect to their final determination.
But that cannot be long doubtful, since the negotiations have
certainly arrived at such a crisis as either to terminate soon in a
peace or a total rupture. In the latter case, you will necessarily
be obliged to proceed on your voyage, as Congress seems anxious
to avail themselves of your abilities and information in the ne-
gotiations, unless they are fully assured that a speedy peace will
preclude them from that advantage.
I enclose a paper which contains all that we have yet received
on that interesting subject. It may, perhaps, be difficult to ac-
count for our ministers having signed before those of France.
But if this letter is genuine, it serves, when compared with their
instructions, to prove that the terms of peace are acceptable to
us and not disagreeable to France. I have the honor to be, Sir,
with great respect and esteem, your most obedient, and most
humble servant.
TO THE HON. R. R. LIVINGSTON.
PHILADELPHIA, March 13, 1783.
SIR, Supposing the despatches received by the Washington,
may have enabled Congress to decide on the expediency of con-
tinuing, or of countermanding my mission to Europe, I take the
liberty of expressing to you the satisfaction it will give me to
332 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
receive their ultimate will, so soon as other business will permit
them to revert to this subject.* I have the honor, &c.
TO JOHN JAY.
PHILADELPHIA, April 11, 1*783.
DEAR SIR, In a letter which I did myself the honor of writ-
ing to you by the Chevalier de Chattellux, I informed you of my
being at this place, with the intention of joining you in Paris.
But the uncommon vigilance of the enemy's cruisers, imme-
diately after the departure of the French fleet, deterred every
vessel from attempting to go out. The arrival of the prelimi-
naries soon after showed the impropriety of my proceeding, and
I am just now setting out on my return to Virginia. I cannot,
however, take my departure, without paying to yourself and
your worthy colleague my homage for the good work you have
completed for us, and congratulating you on the singular happi-
ness of having borne so distinguished a part both in the earliest
and latest transactions of this revolution. The terms obtained
for us are indeed great, and are so deemed by your country a
few ill-designing debtors excepted. I am in hopes you will con-
tinue at some one of the European courts most agreeable to
yourself, that we may still have the benefit of your talents. I
took the liberty in my letter of suggesting a wish that you would
[*The following resolution was passed by Congress relative to Mr. Jefferson's
mission to Europe. ED.]
BY THE UNITED STATES IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED :
April 1st, 1783.
Resolved, That tlae Secretary for Foreign Affairs inform the Hon. Thomas Jefferson,
in answer to his letter of the 13th of March, that Congress consider the object of his
appointment so far advanced as to render it unnecessary for him to pursue his voyage,
and that Congress are well satisfied with the readiness he has shown in undertaking
& service which from the present situation of affairs they apprehend can be dispensed
*rith. Extracts from the minutes,
CHARLES THOMPSON, (copied)
Secretary. 9
CORRESPONDENCE. 333
be so kind as to engage lodgings for me. Should you have given
yourself this trouble, I beg leave to return you my thanks, and
to ask the favor of you to communicate the amount of their hire
to Mr. Robert Morris, of this city, who will immediately remit
it to you, as I lodge money in his hands for this purpose. Accept
my warmest wishes for your happiness, and be assured of the
sincerity with which I have the honor to be, dear Sir, your most
obedient, and most humble servant.
P. S. I beg to be affectionately remembered to Dr. F. and Mr.
A., if they be still with you.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON.
ANNAPOLIS, April 16, 1784.
DEAR SIR, I received your favor of April 8th, by Colonel
Harrison. The subject of it is interesting, and, so far as you
have stood connected with it, has been matter of anxiety to me ;
because, whatever may be the ultimate fate of the institution of
the Cincinnati, in its course, it draws to it some degree of dis-
approbation, I have wished to see you standing on ground
separated from it, and that the character which will be handed
to future ages at the head of our Revolution, may, in no in-
stance, be compromitted in subordinate altercations. The sub-
ject has been at the point of my pen in every letter I have writ-
ten to you. but has been still restrained by the reflection that
you had among your friends more able counsellors, and, in
yourself, one abler than them all. Your letter has now ren-
dered a duty what was before a desire, and I cannot better merit
your confidence than by a full and free communication of facts
and sentiments, as far as they have come within my observa-
tion.' When the army was about to be disbanded, and the offi-
cers to take final leave, perhaps never again to meet, it was na-
tural for men who had accompanied each other through so many
scenes of hardship, of difficulty, and danger, who, in a variety
334 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
of instances, must have been rendered mutually dear by those
aids and good offices, to which their situations had given occa-
sion ; it was natural, I say, for these to seize with fondness any
proposition which promised to bring them together again, at cer-
tain and regular periods. And this, I take for granted, was the
origin and object of this* institution ; and I have no suspicion
that they foresaw, much less intended, those mischiefs which
exist, perhaps in the forebodings of politicians only. I doubt,
however, whether, in its execution, it would be found to answer
the wishes of those who framed it, and to foster those friend-
ships it was intended to -preserve. The members would be
brought together at their annual assemblies, no longer to en-
counter a common enemy, but to encounter one another in de-
bate and sentiment. For something, I suppose, is to be done
at these meetings, and, however unimportant, it will suffice to
produce difference of opinion, contradiction and irritation. The
way to make friends quarrel is to put them in disputation under
the public eye. An experience of near twenty years has taught
me, that few friendships stand this test, and that public assem-
blies, where every one is free to act and speak, are the most
powerful looseners of the bands of private friendship. I think,
therefore, that this institution would fail in its principal object,
the perpetuation of the personal friendships contracted through
the war.
The objections of those who are opposed to the institution
shall be briefly sketched. You will readily fill them up. They
urge that it is against the Confederation against the letter of
some of our constitutions against the spirit of all of them ;
that the foundation on which all these are built, is the natural
equality of man, the denial of every pre-eminence but that an-
nexed to legal office, and, particularly, the denial of a pre-emi-
nence by birth ; that, however, in their present dispositions,
citizens might decline accepting honorary instalments into the
order, a time may come, when a change of dispositions would
render these flattering, when a well-directed distribution of
them might draw into the order all the men of talents, of
CORRESPONDENCE. 335
office and wealth, and in this case, would probably procure an
ingraftment into the government ; that in this, they will be sup-
ported by their foreign members, and the wishes and influence
of foreign courts ; that experience has shown that the heredi-
tary branches of modern governments are the patrons of privilege
and prerogative, and not of the natural rights of the people,
whose oppressors they generally are ; that, besides these evils,
which are remote, others may take place more immediately ;
that a distinction is kept up between the civil and military,
which it is for the happiness of both to obliterate ; that when
the members assemble they will be proposing to do something,
and what that something may be, will depend on actual circum-
stances ; that being an organized body, under habits of subor-
dination, the first obstruction to enterprize will be already sur-
mounted ; that the moderation and virtue of a single character
have probably prevented this Revolution from being closed, as
most others have been, by a subversion of that liberty it was in-
tended to establish ; that he is not immortal, and his successor,
or some of his successors, may be led by false calculation into a
less certain road to glory.
What are the sentiments of Congress on this subject, and
what line they will pursue, can only be stated conjecturally.
Congress, as a body, if left to themselves, will, in my opinion,
say nothing on the subject. They may, however, be forced
into a declaration by instructions from some of the States, or by
other incidents. Their sentiments, if forced from them, will
be unfriendly to the institution. If permitted to pursue their
own path, they will check it by side-blows whenever it comes
in their way, and in competitions for office, on equal or nearly
equal ground, will give silent preferences to those who are not
of the fraternity. My reasons for thinking this are, 1. The
grounds on which they lately declined the foreign order pro-
posed to be conferred on some of our citizens. 2. The fourth
of the fundamental articles of constitution for the new States.
I enclose you the report ; it has been considered by Congress,
recommitted and reformed by a committee, according to senti-
336 JEFFERSON'S WOKKS.
ments expressed on other parts of it, but the principle referred
to, having not been controverted at all, stands in this as in the
original report ; it is not vet confirmed by Congress. 3. Private
conversations on this subject with the members. Since the re-
ceipt of your letter, 1 have taken occasion to extend these ; not,
indeed, to the military members, because, being of the order,
delicacy forbade it, but to the others pretty generally ; and
among these, I have as yet found but one who is not opposed to
the institution, and that with an anguish of mind, though cover-
ed under a guarded silence, which I have not seen produced by
any circumstance before. I arrived at Philadelphia before the
separation of the last Congress, and saw there and at Princeton
some of its members, not now in delegation. Burke's piece hap-
pened to come out at that time, which occasioned this institu-
tion to be the subject of conversation. I found the same im-
pressions made on them which their successors have received.
I hear from other quarters that it is disagreeable, generally, to
such citizens as have attended to it, and, therefore, will probably
be so to all, when any circumstance shall present it to the notice
of all.
This, Sir, is as faithful an account of sentiments and facts as
I am able to give you. You know the extent of the circle
within which my observations are at present circumscribed, and
can estimate how far, as forming a part of the general opinion,
it may merit notice, or ought to influence your particular con-
duct.
It remains now to pay obedience to that part of your letter,
which requests sentiments on the most eligible measures to be
pursued by the society, at their next meeting. I must be far
from pretending to be a judge of what would, in fact, be the
most eligible measures for the society. I can only give you the
opinions of those with whom I have conversed, and who, as I
have before observed, are unfriendly to it. They lead to these
conclusions : 1. If the society proceed according to its institu-
tion, it will be better to make no applications to Congress on
that subject, or any other, in their associated character. 2. If
CORRESPONDENCE. 337
they should propose to modify it, so as to render it unobjection-
able, I think this would not be effected without such a modifi-
cation as would amount almost to annihilation ; for such would it
be to part with its inheritability, its organization, and its assem-
blies. 3. If they shall be disposed to discontinue the whole,
it would remain with them to determine whether they would
choose it to be done by their own act only, or by a reference of
the matter to Congress, which would infallibly produce a re-
commendation of total discontinuance.
You will be sensible, Sir, that these communications are
without reserve. I supposed such to be your wish, and mean
them but as materials, with such others as you may collect, for
your better judgment to work on. I consider the whole matter
as between ourselves alone ; having determined to take no active
part in this or anything else, which may lead to altercation, or
disturb that quiet and tranquillity of mind, to which I consign
the remaining portion of my life. I have been thrown back by
events, on a stage where I had never more thought to appear.*
It is but for a time, however, and as a day laborer, free to with-
draw, or be withdrawn at will. While I remain, I shall pursue
in silence the path of right, but in every situation, public or pri-
vate, I shall be gratified by all occasions of rendering you ser-
vice, and of convincing you there is no one to whom your repu-
tation and happiness are dearer than to, Sir,
Your most obedient, and most humble servant.
[* Mr. Jefferson being released from his mission to Europe on account of the
news of peace, and having returned to Virginia, was again appointed by the Legisla-
ture a delegate to Congress on the 6th of June, 1783. On the 3d of the following
November he arrived at Trenton, where Congress was then sitting, and took his seat
on the 4th, on which day that body adjourned to meet at Annapolis on the 26th. Mr.
Jefferson remained in the discharge of his duties as a delegate until the 7th of Mfiy,
1784, when Congress, having determined to add a third minister plenipotentiary to
Mr. Adams and Dr. Franklin, conferred the appointment on him. On the 6th of
August, 1784, he reached Paris. The purpose for which he had been associated with
Mr. Adams and Dr. Franklin was to negotiate commercial treaties with the European
nations. In June, 1785, Mr. Adams removed to London as. our minister at that
court, and Dr. Franklin obtained permission to return to America, thus leaving Mr.
Jefferson our only representative at Paris in the character of minister plenipotentiary.
Here he remained until the 26th of September, 1789, something more than five
years, when he took leave of Paris, and landed at Norfolk in the latter part of
November. ED.] 22
PART II.
LETTERS WRITTEN WHILE IN EUROPE,
1Y84-1790.
TO COLONEL URIAH FORREST.
PARIS, CUL-DE-SAC TETEBOUT, October 20th, 1784.
SIR, I received yesterday your favor of the 8th instant, and
this morning went to Auteuil and Passy, to consult with Mr.
Adams and Dr. Franklin on the subject of it. We conferred
together, and think it is a case in which we could not interpose
(were there as yet cause for interposition), without express in-
structions from Congress. It is, however, our private opinion,
which we give as individuals only, that Mr. McLanahan, while
in England, is subject to the laws of England ; that, therefore,
he must employ counsel, and be guided in his defence by their
advice. The law of nations, and the treaty of peace, as making
a part of the law of the land, will undoubtedly be under the
consideration of the judges who pronounce on Mr. McLanahan's
case ; and we are willing to hope, that in their knowledge and
integrity, he will find certain resources against injustice, and a
reparation of all injury to which he may have been groundlessly
exposed. A final and palpable failure on their part, which we
have no reason to apprehend, might make the case proper for the
consideration of Congress.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of great respect and
esteem, for Mr. McLanahan, as well as yourself, Sir, your most
obedient humble servant.
CORRESPONDENCE. 339
TO JOHN JAY.
PARIS, May llth, 1785.
SIR, I was honored, on the 2d instant, with the receipt of
your favor of March the 15th, enclosing the resolution of Con-
gress of the 10th of the same month, appointing me their Min-
ister Plenipotentiary at this court, and also of your second letter
of March 22d, covering the commission and letter of credence
for that appointment. I beg permission through you, Sir, to
testify to Congress my gratitude for this new mark of their favor,
and my assurance of endeavoring to merit it by a faithful atten-
tion to the discharge of the duties annexed to it. Fervent zeal
is all which I can be sure of carrying into their service, and,
where I fail through a want of those powers which nature and
circumstances deny me, I shall rely on their indulgence, and
much also on that candor with which your goodness will present
my proceedings to their eye. The kind terms in which you are
pleased to notify this honor to me, require my sincere thanks. I
beg you to accept them, and to be assured of the perfect esteem,
with which I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient, and
most humble servant,
TO GENERAL CHASTELLUX.
PARIS, June 7th, 1785.
DEAR SIR, I have been honored with the receipt of your
letter of the 2d instant, and am to thank you, as I do sincerely,
for the partiality with which you receive the copy of the Notes
on my country. As I can answer for the facts, therein reported,
on my own observation, and have admitted none on the report
of others, which were not supported by evidence sufficient to
command my own assent, I am not afraid that you should make
any extracts you please for the Journal de Physique, which come
within their plan of publication. The strictures on slavery and
340 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
on the constitution of Virginia, are not of that kind, and they
are the parts which I do not wish to have made public, at least
till I know whether their publication would do most harm or
good. It is possible, that in my own country, these strictures
might produce an irritation, which would indispose the people
towards the two great objects I have in view ; that is, the eman-
cipation of their slaves, and the settlement of their constitution
on a firmer and more permanent basis. If I learn from thence,
that they will not produce that effect, I have printed and re-
served just copies enough to be able to give one to every young
man at the College. It is to them I look, to the rising genera-
tion, and not to the one now in power, for these great reforma-
tions. The other copy, delivered at your hotel, was for Monsieur
de Buffon. I meant to ask the favor of you to have it sent to
him, as I was ignorant how to do it. I have one also for Mon-
sieur Daubenton, but being utterly unknown to him, I cannot
take the liberty of presenting it, till I can do it through some
common acquaintance.
I will beg leave to say here a few words on the general ques-
tion of the degeneracy of animals in America. 1. As to the
degeneracy of the man of Europe transplanted to America, it is
no part of Monsieur de Buffon's system. He goes, indeed, within
one step of it, but he stops there. The Abbe Raynal alone has
taken that step. Your knowledge of America enables you to
judge this question, to say, whether the lower class of people in
America are less informed and less susceptible of information,
than the lower class in Europe ; and whether those in America,
who have received such an education as that country can give,
are less improved by it than Europeans of the same degree of
education. 2. As to the aboriginal man of America, I know of
no respectable evidence on which the opinion of his inferiority
of genius has been founded, but that of Don Ulloa. As to Ro-
bertson, he never was in America, he relates nothing on his own
knowledge, he is a compiler only of the relations of others, and
a mere translator of the opinions of Monsieur de Buffon. I
should as soon, therefore, add the translators of Robertson to the
CORRESPONDENCE. 341
witnesses of this fact, as himself. Paw, the beginner of this
charge, was a compiler from the works of others ; and of the
most unlucky description ; for he seems to have read the writings
of travellers, only to collect and republish their lies. It is really
remarkable, that in three volumes 12mo, of small print, it is
scarcely possible to find one truth, and yet, that the author should
be able to produce authority for every fact he states, as he says he
can. Don Ulloa's testimony is the most respectable. He wrote
of what he saw, but he saw the Indian of South America only, and
that after he had passed through ten generations of slavery. It
is very unfair, from this sample, to judge of the natural genius
of this race of men ; and, after supposing that Don Ulloa had not
sufficiently calculated the allowance which should be made for
this circumstance, we do him no injury in considering the picture
he draws of the present Indians of South America, as no picture
of what their ancestors were three hundred years ago. It is in
North America we are to seek their original character. And I
am safe in affirming, that the proofs of genius given by the
Indians of North America place them on a level with whites in
the same uncultivated state. The North of Europe furnishes
subjects enough for comparison with them, and for a proof of
their equality. I have seen some thousands myself, and con-
versed much with them, and have found in them a masculine,
sound understanding. I have had much information from men
who had lived among them, and whose veracity and good sense
were so far known to me, as to establish a reliance on their in-
formation. They have all agreed in bearing witness in favor of
the genius of this people. As to their bodily strength, their
manners rendering it disgraceful to labor, those muscles em-
ployed in labor will be weaker with them, than with the Euro-
pean laborer ; but those which are exerted in the chase, and
those faculties which are employed in the tracing an enemy or a
wild beast, in contriving ambuscades for him, and in carrying
them through their execution, are much stronger than with us,
because they are more exercised. I believe the Indian, then, to
be, in body and mind, equal to the white man. I have supposed
JEFFERSON'S WOEKS.
the black man, in his present state, might not be so ; but it would
be hazardous to affirm, that, equally cultivated for a few genera-
tions, he would not become so. 3. As to the inferiority of the
other animals of America, without more facts, I can add nothing
to what I have said in my Notes.
As to the theory of Monsieur de Buffon, that heat is friendly,
and moisture adverse to the production of large animals, I am
lately furnished with a fact by Dr. Franklin, which proves the
air of London and of Paris to be more humid than that of Phil-
adelphia, and so creates a suspicion that the opinion of the supe-
rior humidity of America may, perhaps, have been too hastily
adopted. And, supposing that fact admitted, I think the physical
reasonings urged to show, that in a moist country animals must
be small, and that in a hot one they must be large, are not built
on the basis of experiment. These questions, however, cannot
be decided, ultimately, at this day. More facts must be collect-
ed, and more time flow off, before the world will be ripe for de-
cision. In the meantime, doubt is wisdom.
I have been fully sensible of the anxieties of your situation,
and that your attentions were wholly consecrated, where alone
they were wholly due, to the succor of friendship and worth.
However much I prize your society, I wait with patience the
moment when I can have it without taking what is due to an-
other. In the meantime, I am solaced with the hope of possess-
ing your friendship, and that it is not ungrateful to you to re-
ceive assurances of that with which I have the honor to be,
dear Sir,
Your most obedient, and most humble servant.
CORRESPONDENCE. 343
TO THE GOVERNOR OF MARYLAND.
PARIS, June 16, 1785.
SIR, I have the honor of enclosing to your Excellency some
propositions which have been made from London to the Farmers
General, to furnish them with the tobaccos of Maryland and
Virginia. For this paper, I am indebted to the zeal of the M.
de La Fayette. I take the liberty of troubling you with it on a
supposition that it may be possible to have this article furnished
from those States to this country immediately without its pass-
ing through the entrepot of London, and the returns for it being
made, of course, in London merchandise. Twenty thousand
hogsheads of tobacco a year delivered here in exchange for the
produce and manufacture of this country, many of which are as
good and cheaper than in England, would establish a rivalship
for our commerce which would have happy effects upon both
countries. Whether this end will be best effected by giving out
these propositions to OUT merchants and exciting them to become
candidates with the Farmers General for this contract, or by any
other means, your Excellency can best judge. I shall mention
this matter also to the Governor of Virginia. The other paper
which accompanies the one before mentioned, is too miserable
to need notice. I will take measures for apprising them of its
errors.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the highest respect
and esteem, your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble
servant.
344 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
TO MR. JAY.
PARIS, June 17, 1785.
Sm, I had the honor of addressing you on the llth of the
last month by young Mr. Adams, who sailed in the packet of
that month. That of the present is likely to be retarded to the
first of July, if not longer.
On the 14th of May I communicated to the Count de Vergen-
nes my appointment as minister plenipotentiary to this Court,
and on the 17th delivered my letter of credence to the King at
a private audience, and went through the other ceremonies usual
on such occasion.
We have reason to expect that Europe will enjoy peace another
year. The negotiations between the Emperor and United Neth-
erlands have been spun out to an unexpected length, but there
seems little doubt but they will end in peace. Whether the ex-
change projected between the Emperor and Elector of Bavaria,
or the pretensions of the former in his line of demarcation with
the Ottoman Porte will produce war, is yet uncertain. If either
of them does, this country will probably take part in it to prevent
a dangerous accession of power to the House of Austria. The
zeal with which they have appeared to negotiate a peace between
Holland and the Empire seems to prove that they do not appre-
hend being engaged in war against the Emperor for any other
power ; because, if they had such an apprehension, they would
not wish to deprive themselves of the assistance of the Dutch : and
their opinion on this subject is better evidence than the details
we get from the newspapers, and must weigh against the affected
delays of the Porte, as to the line of demarcation, the change in
their ministry, their preparation for war, and other symptoms of
like aspect. This question is not altogether uninteresting to us.
Should this country be involved in a Continental war, while dif-
ferences are existing between us and Great Britain, the latter
might carry less moderation into the negotiations for settling
them.
I send you herewith the gazettes of Leyden and that of
COBRESPONDEN"CE. 345
Fihhce for the last two months, the latter because it is the best
in this country, the former as being the best in Europe. The
Courier de 1' Europe you will get genuine from London. As re-
printed here it is of less worth. Should your knowledge of the
newspapers of this country lead you to wish for any other, I
shall take the greatest pleasure in adding it to the regular trans-
missions of two others which I shall make you in future.
I have the honor to be, with the highest esteem and respect,
your most obedient, and most humble servant,
TO COLONEL MONROE.
PARIS, June 17, 1785.
DEAR SIR, I received three days ago your favor of April the
12th. You therein speak of a former letter to me, but it has not
come to hand, nor any other of later date than the 14th of De-
cember. My last to you was of the llth of May by Mr. Adams,
who went in the packet of that month. These conveyances
are now becoming deranged. We have had expectations of
their coming to Havre, which would infinitely facilitate the com-
munication between Paris and Congress ; but their deliberations
on the subject seem to be taking another turn. They complain
of the expense, and that their commerce with us is too small to
justify it. They therefore talk of sending a packet every six
weeks only. The present one, therefore, which should have
sailed about this time, will not sail till the 1st of July. How-
ever, the whole matter is as yet undecided. I have hopes that
when Mr. St. John arrives from New York, he will get them re-
placed on their monthly system. By-the-bye, what is the mean-
ing of a very angry resolution of Congress on his subject ? I
have it not by me, and therefore cannot cite it by date, but you
will remember it, and oblige me by explaining its foundation.
This will be handed you by Mr. Otto, who comes to America as
Charge des Affaires, in the room of Mr. Marbois, promoted to the
346 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
Intendancy of Hispaniola, which office is next to that of Gov-
ernor. He becomes the head of the civil, as the Governor is, of
the military department.
I am much pleased with Otto's appointment; he is good-
humored, affectionate to America, will see things in a friendly
light when they admit of it, in a rational one always, and will
not pique himself on writing every trifling circumstance of irri-
tation to his court. I wish you to be acquainted with him, as a
friendly intercourse between individuals who do business to-
gether produces a mutual spirit of accommodation useful to both
parties. It is very much our interest to keep up the affection of
this country for us, which is considerable. A court has no affec-
tions; but those of the people whom they govern influence
their decisions, even in the most arbitrary governments.
The negotiations between the Emperor and Dutch are spun
out to an amazing length. At present there is no apprehension
but that they will terminate in peace. This court seems to press
it with ardor, and the Dutch are averse, considering the terms
cruel and unjust, as they evidently are. The present delays,
therefore, are imputed to their coldness and to their forms. In
the meantime, the Turk is delaying the demarcation of limits
between him and the Emperor, is making the most vigorous
preparations for war, and has composed his ministry of warlike
characters, deemed personally hostile to the Emperor. Thus
time seems to be spinning out, both by the Dutch and Turks,
and time is wanting for France. Every year's delay is a great
thing for her. It is not impossible, therefore, but that she may
secretly encourage the delays of the Dutch, and hasten the prep-
arations of the Porte, while she is recovering vigor herself, also,
in order to be able to present such a combination to the Empe-
ror as may dictate to him to be quiet. But the designs of these
courts are unsearchable. It is our interest to pray that this coun-
try may have no continental war till our peace with England is
perfectly settled. The merchants of this country continue as
loud and furious as ever against the Arret of August, 1784, per-
mitting our commerce with their islands to a certain degree.
CORRESPONDENCE. 347
Many of them have actually abandoned their trade. The min-
istry are disposed to be firm ; but there is a point at which they
will give way, that is, if the clamors should become such as to
endanger their places. It is evident that nothing can be done by
us at this time, if we may hope it hereafter. I like your re-
moval to New York, and hope Congress will continue there, and
never execute the idea of building their Federal town. Before
it could be finished, a change of members in Congress, or the
admission of new States, would remove them somewhere else.
It is evident that when a sufficient number of the western States
come in, they will remove it to Georgetown. In the meantime,
it is our interest that it should remain where it is, and give no
new pretensions to any other place. I am also much pleased
with the proposition to the States to invest Congress with the
regulation of their trade, jeserving its revenue to the States. I
think it a happy idea, removing the only objection which could
have been justly .made to the proposition. The time, too, is the
present, before the admission of the western States. I am very
differently affected towards the new plan of opening our land
office, by dividing the lands among the States, and selling them
at vendue. It separates still more the interests of the States,
which ought to be made joint in every possible instance, in order
to cultivate the idea of our being one nation, and to multiply the
instances in which the people shall look up to Congress as their
head. And when the States get their portions, they will either
fool them away, or make a job of it to serve individuals. Proofs
of both these practices have been furnished, and by either of
them that invaluable fund is lost, which ought to pay our public
debt. To sell them at vendue, is to give them to the bidders of
the day, be they many or few. It is ripping up the hen which
lays golden eggs. If sold in lots at a fixed price, as first pro-
posed, the best lots will be sold first ; as these become occupied,
it gives a value to the interjacent ones, and raises them, though
of inferior quality, to the price of the first. I send you by Mr.
Otto a copy of my book. Be so good as to apologize to Mr.
Thompson for my not sending him one by this conveyance. I
348 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
could not burthen Mr. Otto with more on so long a road as that
from here to L'Orient. I will send him one by a Mr. Williams,
who will go ere long. I have taken measures to prevent its pub-
lication. My reason is, that I fear the terms in which I speak
of slavery, and of our constitution, may produce an irritation
which will revolt the minds of our countrymen against reforma-
tion in these two articles, and thus do more harm than good. I
have asked of Mr. Madison to sound this matter as far as he can,
and, if he thinks it will not produce that effect, I have then copies
enough printed to give one to each of the young men at the Col-
lege, and to my friends in the country.
I am sorry to see a possibility of * * * being put into the
Treasury. He has no talents for the office, and what he has,
will be employed in rummaging old accounts to involve you in
eternal war with * * * and he will, in a short time, introduce
such dissensions into the commission, as to break it up. If he
goes on the other appointment to Kaskaskia, he will produce a
revolt of that settlement from the United States. I thank you
for your attention to my outfit. For the articles of household
furniture, clothes, and a carriage, I have already paid twenty-
eight thousand livres, and have still more to pay. For the great-
est part of this, I have been obliged to anticipate my salary,
from which, however, I shall never be able to repay it. I find,
that by a rigid economy, bordering however on meanness, I can
save perhaps five hundred livres a month, at least in the summer.
The residue goes for expenses so much of course and of neces-
sity, that I cannot avoid them without abandoning all respect to
my public character. Yet I will pray you to touch this string,
which I know to be a tender one with Congress, with the ut-
most delicacy. I had rather be ruined in my fortune than in
their esteem. If they allow me half a year's salary as an outfit,
I can get through my debts in time. If they raise the salary to
what it was, or even pay our house rent and taxes, I can live
with more decency. I trust that Mr. Adams's house at the
Hague, arid Dr. Franklin's at Passy, the rent of which has been
always allowed him, will give just expectations of the same al-
CORRESPONDENCE. 349
lowance to me. Mr. Jay, however, did not charge it, but he
lived economically and laid up money.
I will take the liberty of hazarding to you some thoughts on
the policy of enlering into treaties with the European nations,
and the nature of them. I am not wedded to these ideas, and,
herefore, shall relinquish them cheerfully when Congress shall
adopt others, and zealously endeavor to carry theirs into effect.
First, as to the policy of making treaties. Congress, by the
Confederation, have no original and inherent power over the
commerce of the States. But,by the 9th article, we are author-
ized to enter into treaties of commerce. The moment these
treaties are concluded, the jurisdiction of Congress over the com-
merce of the States springs into existence, and that of the par-
ticular States is superseded so far as the articles of the treaty
may have taken up the subject. There are two restrictions only,
on the exercise of the power of treaty by Congress. 1st. That
they shall not, by such treaty, restrain the legislatures of the
States from imposing such duties on foreigners, as their own
people are subject to ; nor 2dly, from prohibiting the exporta-
tion or importation of any particular species of goods. Leaving
these two points free, Congress may, by treaty, establish any
system of commerce they please ; but, as I before observed, it is
by treaty alone they can do it. Though they may exercise
their other powers by resolution or ordinance, those over com-
merce can only be exercised by forming a treaty, and this prob
ably by an accidental wording of our Confederation. If, there-
fore, it is better for the States that Congress should regulate
their commerce, it is proper that they should form treaties with
all nations with whom they may possibly trade. You see that
my primary object in the formation of treaties is to take the
commerce of the States out of the hands of the States, and to
place it under the superintendence of Congress, so far as the im-
perfect provisions of our constitutions will admit, and until the
States shall, by new compact, make them more perfect. I
would say, then, to every nation on earth, by treaty, your people
shall trade freely with us, and ours with you, paying no more
350 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
than the most favored nation, in order to put an end to the
right of individual States, acting by fits and starts, to interrupt
our commerce, or to embroil us with any nation. As to the
terms of these treaties, the question becomes more difficult. I
will mention three different plans. 1. That no duty shall be
laid by either party on the productions of the other. 2. That
each may be permitted to equalize their duties to those laid by
the other. 3. That each shall pay in the ports of the other, such
duties only as the most favored nations pay.
1. Were the nations of Europe as free and unembarrassed of
established systems as we are, I do verily believe they would
concur with us in the first plan. But it is impossible. These
establishments are fixed upon them ; they are interwoven with
the body of their laws and the organization of their govern-
ment, and they make a great part of their revenue ; they cannot
then, get rid of them.
2. The plan of equal imposts presents difficulties insurmount-
able. For how are the equal imposts to be effected ? Is it by
laying, in the ports of A. an equal per cent, on the goods of B,
with that which B has laid in his ports on the goods of A ? But
how are we to find what is that per cent. ? For this is not the
usual form of imposts. They generally pay by the ton, by the
measure, by the weight, and not by the value. Besides, if A
sends a million's worth of goods to B, and takes back but the
half of that, and each pays the same per cent., it is evident that
A pays the double of what he recovers in the same way from
B : this would be our case with Spain. Shall we endeavor to
effect equality, then, by saying A may levy so much on the sum
of B's importations into his ports, as B does on the sum of A's
importations into the ports of B ? But how find out that sum ?
Will either party lay open their custom-house books candidly to
evince this sum ? Does either keep their books so exactly as to
be able to do it ? This proposition was started in Congress
when our instructions were formed, as you may remember^ and
the impossibility of executing it occasioned it to be disapproved.
Besides, who should have a right of deciding, when the imposts
CORRESPONDENCE. 351
were equal ? A would say to B, my imposts do not raise so
much as yours : I raise them therefore. B would then say, you
have made them greater than mine, I will raise mine ; and thus
a kind of auction would be carried on between them, and a mu-
tual irritation, which would end in anything, sooner thbn equal-
ity and right.
3. I confess then to you, that I see no alternative left but that
which Congress adopted, of each party placing the other on the
footing of the most favored nation. If the nations of Europe,
from their actual establishments, are not at liberty to say to Amer-
ica, that she shall trade in their ports duty free, they may say
she may trade there paying no higher duties than the most fav-
ored nation ; and this is valuable in many of these countries,
where a very great difference is made between different nations.
There is no difficulty in the execution of this contract, because
there is not a merchant who does not know, or may not know,
the duty paid by every nation on every article. This stipulation
leaves each party at liberty to regulate their own commerce by
general rules, while it secures the other from partial and oppress-
ive discriminations. The difficulty which arises in our case is,
with the nations having American territory. Access to -the West
Indies is indispensably necessary to us. Yet how to gain it,
when it is the established system of these nations to exclude all
foreigners from their colonies. The only chance seems to be
this : our commerce to the mother country is valuable to them.
We must endeavor, then, to make this the price of an admission
into their West Indies, and to those who refuse the admission,
we must refuse our commerce, or load theirs by odious discrim-
inations in our ports. We have this circumstance in our favor
too, that what one grants us in their islands, the others will not
find it worth their while to refuse. The misfortune is, that with
this country we gave this price for their aid in the war, arid we
have now nothing more to offer. She, being withdrawn from
the competition, leaves Great Britain much more at liberty to
hold out against us. This is the difficult part of the business of
treaty, and I own it does not hold out the most flattering prospects.
352 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
I wish you would consider this subject, and write me your
thoughts on it. Mr. Gerry wrote me on the same subject. Will
you give me leave to impose on you the trouble of communicat-
ing this to him ? It is long, and will save me much labor in
copying. I hope he will be so indulgent as to consider it as an
answer to that part of his letter, and will give me his further
thoughts on it.
Shall I send you so much of the Encyclopedia as is already
published, or reserve it here till you come ? It is about forty
volumes, which probably is about half the work. Give yourself
no uneasiness about the money ; perhaps I may find it conve-
nient to ask you to pay trifles occasionally for me in America.
I sincerely wish you may find it convenient to come here ; the
pleasure of the trip will be less than you expect, but the utility
greater. It will make you adore your own country, its soil, its
climate, its equality, liberty, laws, people, and manners. My
God ! how little do my countrymen know what precious bless-
ings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth
enjoy. I confess I had no idea of it myself. While we shall
see multiplied instances of Europeans going to live in America,
I will venture to say, no man now living will ever see an instance
of an American removing to settle in Europe, and continuing
there. Come, then, and see the proofs of this, and on your re-
turn add your testimony to that of every thinking American, in
order to satisfy our countrymen how much it is their interest to
preserve, uninfected by contagion, those peculiarities in their gov-
ernments and manners, to which they are indebted for those
blessings. Adieu, my dear friend ; present me affectionately to
your colleagues. If any of them think me worth writing to,
they may be assured that in the epistolary account I will keep
the debit side against them. Once more, adieu.
Yours affectionately.
P. S. June 19. Since, writing the above, we have received
the following account : Monsieur Pilatre de Roziere, who had
CORRESPONDENCE. 353
been waiting for some months at Boulogne for a fair wind to cross
the channel, at length took his ascent with a companion. The
wind changed after awhile, and brought him back on the French
coast. Being at a height of about six thousand feet, some acci-
dent happened to his balloon of inflammable air ; it burst, they
fell from that height, and were crashed to atoms. There was a
Montgolfier combined with the balloon of inflammable air. It
is suspected the heat of the Montgolfier rarefied too much the in-
flammable air of the other, and occasioned it to burst. The Mont-
golfier came down in good order.
TO JOSEPH JONES.
PARIS, June 19, 1785.
DEAR SIR, I take the liberty of enclosing to you a state of
the case of one Poison, and begging your inquiries and information
whether the lands therein mentioned have been escheated and
sold, and, if they have, what would be the proper method of ap-
plication to obtain a compensation for them.
The negotiations between Holland and the Emperor are slow,
but will probably end in peace. It is believed the Emperor will
not at present push the Bavarian exchange. The Porte delays
the demarcation of limits with him, and is making vigorous prep-
arations for war. But neither will this latter be permitted to pro-
duce a war, if France can prevent it, because, wherever the Em-
peror is seeking to enlarge his dominions, France will present to
him the point of a bayonet. But she wishes extremely for repose,
and has need of it. She is the wealthiest but worst governed
country on earth ; and her finances utterly unprepared for war.
We have need to pray for her repose, and that she may not be
engaged in a continental war while our matters with Great Britain
are so unsettled and so little like being settled.
An accident has happened here which will probably damp the
ardor with which aerial navigation has been pursued. Monsieur
VOL. i. 23
354 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
Pilatre de Roziere had been attending many months at Boulogne
a fair wind to cross the channel in a balloon which was com-
pounded of one of inflammable air, and another called a Mont-
golfier with rarefied air only. He at length thought the wind
fair and with a companion ascended. After proceeding a proper
direction about two leagues, the wind changed and brought them
again over the French coast. Being at the height of about six
thousand feet, some accident, unknown, burst the balloon of in-
flammable air, and the Montgolfier being unequal alone to sustain
their weight, they precipitated from that height to the earth, and
were crushed to atoms. Though navigation by water is attended
with frequent accidents, and in its infancy must have been at-
tended with more, yet these are now so familiar that we think
little of them, while that which has signalized the two first mar-
tyrs to the aeronautical art will probably deter very many from
the experiments they would have been disposed to make. Will
you give me leave to hope the pleasure of hearing from you some-
times. The details from my own country of the proceedings of
the legislative, executive and judiciary bodies, and even those
which respect individuals only, are the most pleasing treat we can
receive at this distance, and the most useful also. I will promise
in return whatever may be interesting to you here.
I am, with very perfect esteem, Sir,
Your friend and servant.
TO CHARLES THOMPSON.
PARIS, June 21, 1785.
DEAR SIR, Your favor of March the 6th, has come duly to
hand. You therein acknowledge the receipt of mine of Novem-
ber the llth ; at that time you could not have received my last,
of February the 8th. At present there is so little new in politics,
literature, or the arts, that I write rather to prove to you my de-
sire of nourishing your correspondence, than of being able to
CORRESPONDENCE. 355
give you my thing interesting at this time. The political world
is almost lulled to sleep by the lethargic state of the Dutch nego-
tiation, which will probably end in peace. Nor does this court
profess to apprehend that the Emperor will involve this hemi-
sphere in war by his schemes on Bavaria and Turkey. The
arts, instead of advancing, have lately received a check, which
will probably render stationary for awhile, that branch of them
which had promised to elevate us to the skies. Pilatre de Roziere,
who had first ventured into that region, has fallen a sacrifice to
it. In an attempt to pass from Boulogne over to England, a
change in the wind having brought him back on the coast of
France, some accident happened to his balloon of inflammable
air, which occasioned it to burst, and that of rarefied air combined
with it being then unequal to the weight, they fell to the earth
from a height, which the first reports made six thousand feet, but
later ones have reduced to sixteen hundred. Pilatre de Roziere
was dead when a peasant, distant one hundred yards only, ran to
him ; but Romain, his companion, lived about ten minutes, though
speechless, and without his senses. In literature there is nothing
new. For I do not consider as having added anything to that
field my own Notes, of which I have had a few copies printed.
I will send you a copy by the first safe conveyance. Having
troubled Mr. Otto with one for Colonel Monroe, I could riot
charge him with one for you. Pray ask the favor of Colonel
Monroe, in page 5, line 17, to strike out the words, " above the
mouth of the Appamattox," which makes nonsense of the pas-
sage and I forgot to correct it before I had enclosed and sent off
the copy to him. I am desirous of preventing the reprinting
this, should any book merchant think it worth it, till I hear from
my friends, whether the terms in which I have spoken of slavery
and the constitution of our State, will not, by producing an irri-
tation, retard that reformation which I wish, instead of promoting
it. Dr. Franklin proposes to sail for America about the first or
second week of July. He does not yet know, however, by what
conveyance he can go. Unable to travel by land, he must de-
scend the Seine in a boat to Havre. He has sent to England to
356 JEFFEKSON'S WOKKS.
get some vessel bound for Philadelphia, to touch at Havre for
him. But he receives information that this cannot be done. He
has been on the look out ever since he received his permission to
return ; but, as yet, no possible means of getting a passage have
offered, and I fear it is very uncertain when any will offer.
I am, with very great esteem, dear Sir,
Your friend and servant.
TO JOHN ADAMS.
PARIS, June 23, 1785.
DEAR SIR, My last to you was of the 2d instant, since which
I have received yours of the 3d and 7th. I informed you in
mine of the substance of our letter to Baron Thulemeyer : last
night came to hand his acknowledgment of the receipt of it.
He accedes to the method proposed for signing, and has for-
warded our dispatch to the King. I enclose you a copy of our
letter to Mr. Jay, to go by the packet of this month. It con-
tains a state of our proceedings since the preceding letter, which
you had signed with us. This statement contains nothing but
what you had concurred with us in ; and, as Dr. Franklin ex-
pects to go early in July to America, it is probable that the future
letters must be written by you and myself. I shall, therefore,
take care that you be furnished with copies of everything which
comes to hand on the joint business.
What has become of this Mr. Lambe ? I am uneasy at the
delay of that business, since we know the ultimate decision of
Congress. Dr. Franklin, having a copy of the Corps Diplomat-
ique, has promised to prepare a draught of a treaty to be offered
to the Barbary States : as soon as he has done so, we will send
it to you for your corrections. We think it will be best to have
it in readiness against the arrival of Mr. Lambe, on the supposi-
tion that he may be addressed to the joint ministers for instruc-
tions.
CORRESPONDENCE. 357
I asked the favor of you in my last, to choose two of the best
London papers for me ; one of each party. The Duke of Dorset
has given me leave to have them put under his address, and sent
to the office from which his despatches come. I think he called
it Cleveland office, or Cleveland lane, or by some such name ;
however, I suppose it can be easily known there. Will Mr.
Stockdale undertake to have these papers sent regularly, or is
this out of the line of his business ? Pray order me, also, any
really good pamphlets that come out from time to time, which
he will charge to me.
I am, with great esteem, dear Sir, your friend and servant.
TO M. DU PORT AIL.
PARIS, June 27, 1786.
SIR, I had the honor of informing you some time ago that
I had written to the Board of Treasury on the subject of the ar-
rearages of interest due to the foreign officers, and urging the
necessity of paying them. I now enclose the extract of a letter
which I have just received from them, and by which you will
perceive that their funds were not in a condition for making that
payment in the moment of receiving my letter, but that they
would be attentive to make it in the first moment it should be in
their power. There is still a second letter of mine on the way
to them, on the same subject, which will again press for exer-
tions in this business, which, however, I am satisfied they will
not fail to do their utmost in. It will give me real pleasure to
inform you of effectual provision for this purpose in the first mo-
ment possible, being with sentiments of esteem and respect, Sir,
your most obedient and most humble servant.
358 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
TO COLONEL MONROE.
PARIS, July 5, 1785.
DEAR SIR, I wrote you by Mr. Adams, May the llth, ana
by Mr. Otto, June the 17th. The latter acknowledged the re-
ceipt of yours of April the 12th, which is the only one come to
hand of later date than December the 14th. Little has occurred
since my last. Peace seems to show herself under a more
decided form. The Emperor is now on a journey to Italy, and
the two Dutch Plenipotentiaries have set out for Vienna ; there
to make an apology for their State having dared to fire a gun in
defence of her invaded rights : this is insisted on as a preliminary
condition. The Emperor seems to prefer the glory of terror to
that of justice ; and, to satisfy this tinsel passion, plants a dagger
in the heart of every Dutchman which no time will extract. I
enquired lately of a gentleman who lived long at Constantinople,
in a public character, and enjoyed the confidence of that govern-
ment, insomuch as to become well acquainted with its spirit and
its powers, what he thought might be the issue of the present affair
between the Emperor and the Porte. He thinks the latter will
not push matters to a war ; and, if they do, they must fail undei
it. They have lost their warlike spirit, and their troops cannot
be induced to adopt the European arms. We have no news yet
of Mr. Lambe ; of course, our Barbary proceedings are still at a
stand.*
Yours Affectionately.
TO JOHN ADAMS.
PARIS, July 7, 1785.
DEAR SIR, This will accompany a joint letter enclosing the
draft of a treaty, and my private letter of June 23d, which has
[* The remainder of this letter is in cypluy to which there is no key in the
Editor's possession.]
CORRESPONDENCE. 359
waited so long for a private conveyance. We daily expect from
the Baron Thulemeyer the French column for our treaty with
his sovereign. In the meanwhile, two copies are preparing with
the English column, which Dr. Franklin wishes to sign before
his departure, which will be within four or five days. The
French, when received, will be inserted in the blank columns of
each copy. As the measure of signing at several times and
places is new, we think it necessary to omit no other circum-
stance of ceremony which can be observed. That of sending it
by a person of confidence, and invested with a character relative
to the object, who shall attest our signatures here, yours in Lon-
don, and Baron Thulemeyer's at the Hague, and who shall make
the actual exchanges, we think will contribute to supply the de-
parture from the usual form, in other instances. For this reason,
we have agreed to send Mr. Short on this business, to make him
a secretary pro hac vice, and to join Mr. Dumas for the operations
of exchange, &c. As Dr. Franklin will have left us before Mr.
Short's mission will commence, and I have never been concerned
in the ceremonials of a treaty, I will thank you for your imme-
diate information as to the papers he should be furnished with
from hence. He will repair first to you in London, thence to
the Hague, and then return to Paris.
What has become of Mr. Lambe ? Supposing he was to call
on the commissioners for instructions, and thinking it best these
should be in readiness, Dr. Franklin undertook to consult well
the Barbary treaties with other nations, and to prepare a sketch
which we should have sent for your correction. He tells me he
has consulted those treaties, and made references to the articles
proper for us, which, however, he will not have time to put into
form, but will leave them with me to reduce. As soon as I see
them, you shall hear from me. A late conversation with an
English gentleman here makes me believe, what I did not be-
lieve before, that his nation thinks seriously that Congress have
no power to form a treaty of commerce. As the explanations
of this matter, which you and I may separately give, may be
handed to their minister, it would be well that they should agree.
360 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
For this reason, as well as for the hope of your showing me
wherein I am wrong, and confirming me where I am right, I will
give you my creed on the subject. It is contained in these four
principles. By the Confederation, Congress have no power given
them, in the first instance, over the commerce of the States.
But they have a power given them of entering into treaties of
commerce, and these treaties may cover the whole field of com-
merce, with two restrictions only. 1. That the States may im-
pose equal duties on foreigners as natives : and 2. That they may
prohibit the exportation or importation of any species of goods
whatsoever. When they shall have entered into such treaty, the
superintendence of it results to them ; all the operations of com-
merce, which are protected by its stipulations, come under their
jurisdiction, and the power of the States to thwart them by their
separate acts, ceases. If Great Britain asks, then, why she
should enter into any treaty with us? why not carry on her
commerce without treaty ? I answer ; because, till a treaty is
made, no consul of hers can be received (his functions being
called into existence by a convention only, and the States hav-
ing abandoned the right of separate agreements and treaties) ;
no protection to her commerce can be given by Congress ; no
cover to it from those checks and discouragements with which
the States will oppress it, acting separately, and by fits and
starts. That they will act so till a treaty is made Great Britain
has had several proofs ; and I am convinced those proofs will be-
come general. It is, then, to put her commerce with us on system-
atical ground, and under safe cover, that it behoves Great
Britain to enter into treaty. As I own to you that my wish to
enter into treaties with the other powers of Europe arises more
from a desire of bringing all our commerce under the jurisdiction
of Congress, than from any other views. Because, according to
my idea, the commerce of the United States with those countries,
not under treaty with us, is under the jurisdiction of each State
separately ; but that of the countries, which have treated with us,
is under the jurisdiction of Congress, with the two fundamental
restraints only, which I hav b^^ore noted.
CORRESPONDENCE. 361
I shall be happy to receive your corrections of these ideas, as
I have found, in the course of our joint services, that I think
right when I think with you.
I am, with sincere affection, dear Sir, your friend and servant.
P. S. Monsieur Houdon has agreed to go to America to take
the figure of General Washington. In case of his death, between
his departure from Paris, and his return to it, we may lose twenty
thousand livres. I ask the favor of you to enquire what it will
cost to ensure that sum, on his life, in London, and to give me as
early an answer as possible, that I may order the insurance if I
think the terms easy enough. He is, I believe, between thirty
and thirty-five years of age, healthy enough, and will be absent
about six months.
TO M. DE CASTRIES.
PARIS, July 10th, 1785.
SIR, I am honored with your Excellency's letter on the prize
money for which Mr. Jones applies. The papers intended to
have been therein enclosed, not having been actually enclosed, I
am unable to say anything on their subject. But I find that
Congress, on the first day of November, 1783, recommended
Captain Jones to their Minister here, as agent, to solicit, under his
direction, payment to the officers and crews for the prizes taken
in Europe under his command ; requiring him previously to give
to their superintendent of finance good security for paying to
him whatever he should receive, to be by him distributed to
those entitled. In consequence of this, Captain Jones gave the
security required, as is certified by the superintendent of finance
on the 6th of November, 1783, and received from Doctor Frank-
lin on the 17th of December, 1783, due authority, as agent, to
solicit the said payments.
From these documents, I consider Captain Jones as agent
for the citizens of the United States, interested in the prizes
362 JEFFEKSON'S WOEKS.
taken in Europe under his command, and that he is properly au-
thorized to receive the money due to them, having given good
security to transmit it to the treasury office of the United States,
whence it will be distributed, under the care of Congress, to the
officers and crews originally entitled, or to their representatives.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the highest respect,
your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant,
TO MESSRS. FRENCH AND NEPHEW.
PARIS, July 13th, 1785.
GENTLEMEN, I had the honor of receiving your letter of June
the 21st, enclosing one from Mr. Alexander of June the 17th,
and a copy of his application to Monsieur de Calonnes. I am
very sensible that no trade can be on a more desperate footing
than that of tobacco, in this country ; and that our merchants
must abandon the French markets, if they are not permitted to
sell the productions they bring, on such terms as will enable
them to purchase reasonable returns in the manufactures of
France. ' I know but one remedy to the evil ; that of allowing
a free vent ; and I should be very happy in being instrumental to
the obtaining this. But, while the purchase of tobacco is monop-
olized by a company, and they pay for that monopoly a heavy
price to the government, they doubtless are at liberty to fix such
places and terms of purchase, as may enable them to make good
their engagements with government. I see no more reason for
obliging them to give a greater price for tobacco than they think
they can afford, than to do the same between two individuals
treating for a horse, a house, or anything else. Could this be
effected by applications to the minister, it would only be a pallia-
tive which would retard the ultimate cure, so much to be wished
for and aimed at by every friend to this country, as well as to
America.
I have the honor to be, Gentlemen, your most obedient hum-
ble servant,
CORRESPONDENCE.
TO DR. STYLES.
PARIS, July 17, 1785.
SIR, I have long deferred doing myself the honor of writing
to you, wishing for an opportunity to accompany my letter with
a copy of the Bibliothcque Physico-ceconomique ; a book pub-
lished here lately in four small volumes, and which gives an ac-
count of all the improvements in the arts which have been made
for some years past. I flatter myself you will find in it many
things agreeable and useful. I accompany it with the volumes
of the " Connoisance des Terns" for the years 1781, 1784, 1785,
1786, 1787. But why, you will ask, do I send you old alman-
acs, which are proverbially useless ? Because, in these publica-
tions have appeared, from time to time, some of the most pre-
cious things in astronomy. I have searched out those particulai
volumes which might be valuable to you on this account.
That of 1781, contains de la Caille's catalogue of fixed stars
reduced to the commencement of that year, and a table of the
aberrations and nutations of the principal stars. 1784 contain*
the same catalogue with the nebuleuses of Messier. 1785 con
tains the famous catalogue of Hamsteed, with the positions of
the stars reduced to the beginning of the year 1784, and which
supersedes the use of that immense book. 1786 gives you
Euler's lunar tables corrected ; and 1787, the tables for the planet
Herschel. The two last needed not an apology, as not being
within the description of old almanacs. It is fixed on grounds
which scarcely admit a doubt that the planet Herschel was seen
by Mayer in the year 1756, and was considered by him as one
of the zodiacal stars, and, as such, arranged in his catalogue,
being the 964th which he describes. This 964th of Mayer has
been since missing, and the calculations for the planet Herschel
show that it should have been, at the time of Mayer's observa-
tion, where he places his 964th star. The volume of 1787
gives you Mayer's catalogue of the zodiacal stars. The re-
searches of the natural philosophers of Europe seem mostly in
the field of chemistry, and here, principally, on the subjects of
364 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
air and fire. The analysis of these two subjects, presents to us
very new ideas. When speaking of the " Bibliothcque Physico-
oeconomique," I should have observed, that since its publication,
a man in this city has invented a method of moving a vessel on
the water, by a machine worked within the vessel. I went to
see it. He did not know himself the principle of his own inven-
tion. It is a screw with a very broad thin worm, or rather it is
a thin plate with its edge applied spirally round an axis. This
being turned, operates on the air, as a screw does, and may be
literally said to screw the vessel along ; the thinness of the me-
dium, and its want of resistance, occasion a loss of much of the
force. The screw, I think, would be more effectual if placed
below the surface of the water. I very much suspect that a
countryman of ours, Mr. Bushnel of Connecticut, is entitled to
the merit of a prior discovery of this use of the screw. I re-
member to have heard of his submarine navigation during the
war, and, from what Colonel Humphreys now tells me, I con-
jecture that the screw was the power he used. He joined to
this a machine for exploding under water at a given moment.
If it were not too great a liberty for a stranger to take, I would
ask from him a narration of his actual experiments, with or with-
out a communication of his principle, as he should choose. If
he thought proper to communicate it, I would engage never to
disclose it, unless I could find an opportunity of doing it for his
benefit. I thank you for your information as to the great bones
found on the Hudson river. I suspect that they must have been
of the same animal with those found on the Ohio ; and, if so,
they could not have belonged to any human figure, because
they are accompanied with tusks of the size, form and sub-
stance, of those of the elephant. I have seen a part of the ivory,
which was very good. The animal itself must have been much
larger than an elephant. Mrs. Adams gives me an account of a
flower found in Connecticut, which vegetates when suspended
in the air. She brought one to Europe. What can be this
flower ? It would be a curious present to this continent.
The accommodation likely to take place between the Dutch
CORRESPONDENCE. 365
and the Emperor, leaves us without that unfortunate resource
for news, which wars give us. The Emperor has certainly had
in view the Bavarian exchange of which you have heard ; but
so formidable an opposition presented itself, that he has thought
proper to disavow it. The Turks show a disposition to go to
war with him, but, if this country can prevail on them to remain
in peace, they will do so. It has been thought that the two
Imperial courts have a plan of expelling the Turks from Europe.
It is really a pity so charming a country should remain in the
hands of a people, whose religion forbids the admission of
science and the arts among them. We should wish success to
the object of the two empires, if they meant to leave the coun-
try in possession of the Greek inhabitants. We might then ex-
pect, once more, to see the language of Homer and Demos-
thenes a living language. For I am persuaded the modern
Greel"would easily get back to its classical models. But this is
-not intended. They only propose to put the Greeks under other
masters : to substitute one set of barbarians for another.
Colonel Humphreys, having satisfied you that all attempts
would be fruitless here to obtain money or other advantages for
your college, I need add nothing on that head. It is a method
of supporting colleges of which they have no idea, though they
practice it for the support of their lazy monkish institutions.
I have the honor to be, with the highest respect and esteem,
Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant.
TO JOHN ADAMS.
PARIS, July 28, 1785.
DEAR SIR, Your favors of July the 16th and 18th, came to
hand the same day on which I had received Baron Thule-
meyer's enclosing the ultimate draught for the treaty. As this
draught, which was in French, was to be copied into the two
instruments which Dr. Franklin had signed, it is finished this
366 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
day only. Mr. Short sets out immediately. I have put into his
hands a letter of instructions how to conduct himself, which I
have signed, leaving a space above for your signature. The
two treaties I have signed at the left hand, Dr. Franklin having
informed me that the signatures are read backwards. Besides
the instructions to Mr. Short, I signed also a letter to Mr. Dumas,
associating him with Mr. Short. These two letters I made out
as nearly conformably as I could to your ideas expressed in your
letter of the 18th. If anything more be necessary, be so good
as to make a separate instruction for them signed by yourself, to
which I will accede. I have not directed Mr. Dumas's letter.
I have heretofore directed to him as " Agent for the United States
at the Hague," that being the descriptiori under which the jour-
nals of Congress speak of him. In his last letter to me, is a
paragraph from which I conclude that the address I have used
is not agreeable, and perhaps may be wrong. Will you be so
good as to address the letter to him, and to inform me how to
address him hereafter ? Mr. Short carries also the other papers
necessary. His equipment for his journey requiring expenses
which cannot come into the account of ordinary expenses, such
as clothes, &c., what allowance should be made him ? I have
supposed somewhere between a guinea a day, and one thousand
dollars a year, which I believe is the salary of a private secretary.
This I mean as over and above his travelling expenses. Be so
good as to say, and I will give him an order on his return.
The danger of robbery, has induced me to furnish him with
only money enough to carry him to London. You will be so
good as to procure him enough to carry him to the Hague, and
back to Paris.
The confederation of the King of Prussia with some members
of the Germanic body, for the preservation of their constitution,
is, I think, beyond a doubt. The Emperor has certainly com-
plained of it in formal communications at several courts. By
what can be collected from diplomatic conversation here, I also
conclude it tolerably certain, that the Elector of Hanover has
been invited to accede to the confederation, and has done, or is
CORRESPONDENCE. 367
doing so. You will have better circumstances, however, on the
spot, to form a just judgment. Our matters with the first of
these powers being now in conclusion, I wish it was so with
the Elector of Hanover. I conclude, from the general express-
ions in your letter, that little may be expected. Mr. Short fur-
nishing so safe a conveyance that the trouble of the cypher may
be dispensed with, I will thank you for such details of what has
passed, as may not be too troublesome to you.
The difficulties of getting books into Paris delayed for some
time my receipt of the Corps diplomatique left by Dr. Franklin.
Since that, we have been engaged with expediting Mr. Short.
A huge packet also, brought by Mr. Mazzei, has added to the
causes which have as yet prevented me from examining Dr.
Franklin's notes on the Barbary treaty. It shall be one of my
first occupations. Still the possibility is too obvious that we
may run counter to the instructions of Congress, of which Mr.
Lambe is said to be the bearer. There is a great impatience in
America for these treaties. I am much distressed between this
impatience and the known will of Congress, on .the one hand,
and the uncertainty of the details committed to this tardy ser-
vant.
The Duke of Dorset sets out for London to-morrow. He
says he shall be absent two months. There is some whisper
that he will not return, and that Lord Carmarthen wishes to
come here. I am sorry to lose so honest a man as the Duke. I
take the liberty to ask an answer about the insurance of Hou-
don's life.
Congress is not likely to adjourn this summer. They have
passed an ordinance for selling their lands. I have not received
it.
What would you think of the enclosed draught to be proposed
to the courts of London and Versailles? I would add Madrid
and Lisbon, but that they are still more desperate than the others.
I know it goes beyond our powers, and beyond the powers of
Congress too ; but it is so evidently for the good of all the States,
that I should not be afraid to risk myself on it, if you are of the
368 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
same opinion. Consider it, if you please, and give me your
thoughts on it by Mr. Short ; but I do not communicate it to him,
nor any other mortal living but yourself.
Be pleased to present me in the most friendly terms to the ladies,
and believe me to be, with great esteem,
Dear Sir, your friend and servant.
TO THE BARON DE THULEMEYER.
PARIS, July 28, 1785.
SIR, 1 was honored with the receipt of your letter on the
24th instant, together with the French draught of the treaty
proposed. As it ultimately meets his Majesty's approbation, Dr.
Franklin, our colleague, having assisted us through the progress
of this business, we were desirous he also should join in the ex-
ecution. Duplicate instruments were therefore prepared, each
divided into two columns, in one of which we entered the Eng-
lish form as it has been settled between us, leaving the other
blank to receive the French, which we expected from you. In
this state the Doctor, before his departure, put his signature and
seal to the two instruments. We have since put into the blank
column the French form received from you verbatim. As we
thought that such instruments should not be trusted out of con-
fidential hands, and the bearer thereof, William Short, Esq.,
heretofore a member of the Council of State in Virginia, hap-
pened to be in Paris, and willing to give us his assistance herein,
they are delivered into his hands with other necessary papers,
according to an arrangement previously made between Mr. Ad-
ams, Dr. Franklin and myself. He will proceed to London to
obtain Mr. Adams's signature, and thence to the Hague, where
we have, according to your desire, associated Mr. Dumas with
him to concur with you in the final execution. It is with sin-
gular pleasure I see this connection formed by my country with
a sovereign whose character gives a lustre to all the transactions
CORRESPONDENCE. 369
of which he makes part. Give me leave to recommend Mr.
Short to your notice. His talents and merits are such as to have
placed him, young as he is, \n the Supreme Executive Council
of Virginia, an office which he relinquished to visit Europe.
The letter to Baron Steuben shall be taken care of.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the highest respect,
Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant.
TO MESSRS. N. AND j. VAN STAPHORST Amsterdam.
PARIS, July 30, 1785.
GENTLEMEN, I received yesterday your favor of the 25th.
Supposing that the funds which are the object of your enquiry,
are those which constitute what we call our domestic debt, it is
my opinion that they are absolutely secure : I have no doubt at
all but that they will be paid, with their interest at six per cent.
But I cannot say that they are as secure and solid as the funds
which constitute our foreign debt ; because no man in America
ever entertained a doubt that our foreign debts is to be paid fully ;
but some people in America have seriously contended, that the
certificates, and other evidences of our domestic debt, ought to
be redeemed only at what they have cost the holder ; for I must
observe to you, that these certificates of domestic debt, having
as yet no provision for the payment of principal or interest, and
the original holders being mostly needy, have been sold at a very
great discount. When I left America (July, 1784, ) they sold, in dif-
ferent States, at from 15s. to 2s. 6d. in the pound ; arid any amount
of them might then have been purchased. Hence some thought
that full justice would be done, if the public paid the purchasers
of them what they actually paid for them, and interest on that.
But this is very far from being a general opinion ; a very great
majority being firmly decided that they shall be paid fully. Were
I the holder of any of them, I should not have the least fear of
their full payment. There is also a difference between different
VOL. i. 24
370 JEFFERSON'S WOEKS.
species of certificates ; some of them being receivable in taxes,
others having the benefit of particular assurances, &c. Again,
some of these certificates are for paper money debts. A decep-
tion here must be guarded against. Congress ordered all such to
be re-settled by the depreciation tables, and a new certificate to
be given in exchange for them, expressing their value in real
money. But all have not yet been re-settled. In short, this is
a science in which few in America are expert, and no person in a
foreign country can be so. Foreigners should therefore be sure
that they are well advised, before they meddle with them, or they
may suffer. If you will reflect with what degree of success per-
sons actually in America could speculate in the European funds,
which rise and fall daily, you may judge how far those in Eu-
rope may do it in the American funds, which are more variable
from a variety of causes.
I am not at all acquainted with Mr. Daniel Parker, further
than having once seen him in Philadelphia. He is of Massa-
chusetts, I believe, and I am of Virginia. His circumstances are
utterly unknown to me. I think there are few men in America,
if there is a single one, who could command a hundred thou-
sand pounds' sterling worth of these notes, at their real value.
At their nominal amount, this might be done perhaps with twen-
ty-five thousand pounds sterling, if the market price of them be
as low as when I left America.
I am, with very great respect, Gentlemen, your most obedient
humble servant.
TO JOHN ADAMS.
PARIS, July 31, 1785.
DEAR SIR, I was honored yesterday with yours of the 24th
instant. When the first article of our instructions of May 7th,
1784, was under debate in Congress, it was proposed that neither
party should make the other pay, in their ports, greater duties,
CORRESPONDENCE. 371
than they paid in the ports of the other. One objection to this
was, its impracticability ; another, that it would put it out of our
power to lay such duties on alien importation as might encourage
importation by natives. Some members, much attached to Eng-
lish policy, thought such a distinction should actually be estab-
lished. Some thought the power to do it should be reserved, in
case any peculiar circumstances should call for it, though under
the present, or, perhaps, any. probable circumstances, they did
not think it would be good policy ever to exercise it. The foot-
ing gentis amicissimcB, was therefore adopted, as you see in the
instruction. As far as my enquiries enable me to judge, France
and Holland make no distinction of duties between aliens and
natives. I also rather believe that the other States of Europe
make none, England excepted, to whom this policy, as that of
her navigation act, seems peculiar. The question then is, should
we disarm ourselves of the power to make this distinction against
all nations, in order to purchase an exception from the alien du-
ties in England only ; for if we put her importations on the foot-
ing of native, all other nations with, whom we treat will have a
right to claim the same. I think we should, because against
other nations,who make no distinction in their ports between us
and their own subjects, we ought not to make a distinction in
ours. And if the English will agree, in like manner, to make
none, we should, with equal reason, abandon the right as against
them. I think all the world would gain, by setting commerce
at perfect liberty. I remember that when we were digesting
the general form of our treaty, this proposition to put foreigners
and natives on the same footing was considered ; and we were
all three, Dr. Franklin as well as you and myself, in favor of it.
We finally, however, did not admit it, partly from the objection
you mention, but more still on account of our instructions. But
though the English proclamation had appeared in America at the
time of framing these instructions, I think its effect, as to alien
duties, had not yet been experienced, and therefore was not at-
tended to. If it had been noted in the debate, I am sure that the
annihilation of our whole trade would have been thought too
372 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
great a price to pay for the reservation of a barren power, which
a majority of the members did not propose ever to exercise,
though they were willing to retain it. Stipulating for equal
rights to foreigners and natives, we obtain more in foreign ports
than our instructions required, and we only part with, in our
own ports, a power of which sound policy would probably for-
ever forbid the exercise. Add to this, that our treaty will be for
a very short term, and if any evil be experienced under it, a re-
formation will soon be in our power. I am, therefore, for putting
this among our original propositions to the court of London.
If it should prove an insuperable obstacle with them, or if it
should stand in the way of a greater advantage, we can but aban-
don it in the course of the negotiation.
In my copy of the cypher, on the alphabetical side, numbers
are wanting from " Denmark" to " disc" inclusive, and from
" gone" to " governor" inclusive. I suppose them to have been
omitted in copying ; will you be so good as to send them to me
from yours, by the first safe conveyance ?
With compliments to the ladies, and to Colonel Smith,
I am, dear Sir, your friend and servant.*
TO MR. \VM. SHORT. f
July, 1785.
SIR, A treaty of amity and commerce between the United
States of America and his majesty the King of Prussia having
been arranged with the Baron de Thulemeyer, his majesty's en-
voy extraordinary at the Hague, specially empowered for this
[* The original of this letter was in cypher. But annexed to the copy iu cypher,
is the above literal copy by the author.]
[f Mr. Short was Mr. Jefferson's private secretary. The propositions of our min-
isters for commercial treaties, were received with coldness by all the European pow-
ers except Prussia, Denmark, and Tuscany. Frederick met their propositions cor-
dially, and a treaty was soon concluded with his minister at the Hague. With Den-
mark and Tuscany our own ministers, from considerations of policy, protracted the
negotiations until their powers expired. ED.]
CORRESPONDENCE. 373
purpose, and it being inconsistent with our other duties to repair
to that place ourselves for the purpose of executing and exchang-
ing the instruments of treaty, we hereby appoint you special
secretary for that purpose.
You receive from Colonel Humphries, secretary of our lega-
tion, the original of our full powers, and a copy of the same at-
tested by him, heretofore communicated to us by the Baron de
Thulemeyer, and the two instruments of treaty awarded between
us, each in two columns, the one in English and the other in
French, equally originals. From us you receive a letter to
Charles Dumas, Esq., for the United States at the
Hague, associating him with you in the object of your mission.
You will proceed immediately to the Hague, and being arrived
there, will deliver the letter to Mr. Dumas, and proceed conjunct-
ly with him in the residue of your business, which is to be exe-
cuted there.
The original of our full powers is to be exhibited to the pleni-
potentiary of his majesty the King of Prussia, and the attested
copy is to be left with him, you taking back the original. You
will in like manner ask an exhibition of the original of his full
powers, and also a copy duly attested : you will compare the copy
with the original, and, being satisfied of its exactness, you will
return the original and keep the copy. That you may be under
no doubt whether the full powers exhibited to you be sufficient
or not, you receive from Colonel Humphries those which the
Baron de Thulemeyer heretofore sent to us ; if those which
shall be exhibited agree with these in form or substance, they
will be sufficient.
The full powers being approved on each side and exchanged,
you will obtain the signature and seal of the Prussian plenipo-
tentiary to the two instruments of treaty with which you are
charged, and yourself and Mr. Dumas will attest the same. One
of these original instruments will remain in the hands of the
Prussian plenipotentiary, the other you will retain.
You will ask that the ratification of his majesty the King of
Prussia be made known to us as soon as it shall have taken
374 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
place, giving an assurance on our part that that of Congress shall
also be communicated as soon as it shall have taken place ;
when both ratifications shall be known, measures may be con-
certed for exchanging them. You will confer with the said
plenipotentiary on the expediency of keeping this treaty uncom-
municated to the public until the exchange of ratifications agree
accordingly.
You will then return to Paris, and redeliver to the secretary
of our legation, our original full powers, the copies of those of
Prussia before-mentioned, and the original instrument of the
treaty which you shall have retained.
TO M. DE CASTRIES.
PARIS, August 8, 1785.
SIR, The enclosed copy of a letter from Captain John Paul
Jones, on the subject on which your Excellency did me the honor
to write me, on the day of July, will inform you that there is
still occasion to be troublesome to you. A Mr. Puchilberg, a
merchant of L'Orient, who seems to have kept himself unknown
till money was to be received, now presents powers to receive it,
signed by the American officers and crews ; and this produces a
hesitation in the person to whom your order was directed. Con-
gress, however, having substituted Captain Jones, as agent, to
solicit and receive this money, he having given them security to
forward it, when received, to their treasury, to be thence distrib-
uted to the claimants, and having at a considerable expense of
time, trouble, and money, attended it to a conclusion, are circum-
stances of weight, against which Mr. Puchilberg seems to have
nothing to oppose, but a nomination by individuals of the crew,
under which he has declined to act, and permitted the business
to be done by another without contradiction from him. Against
him, too, it is urged that he fomented the sedition which took
place among them ; that he obtained this nomination from them
while their minds were under ferment ; and that he has given
COKEESPONDENCE. 375
no security for the faithful payment of the money to those en-
titled to it.
I will add to these, one more circumstance which appears to
render it impossible that he should execute this trust. It is now
several years since the right to this money arose. The persons
in whom it originally vested were probably from different States
in America. Many of them must be now dead ; and their rights
passed on to their representatives. But who are their representa-
tives ? The laws of some States prefer one degree of relations,
those of others prefer another, there being no uniformity among
the States on this point. Mr. Puchilberg, therefore, should know
which of the parties are dead ; in what order the laws of their
respective States call their relations to the succession ; and, in
every case, which of those orders are actually in existence, and
entitled to the share of the deceased. With the Atlantic Ocean
between the principals and their substitute, your Excellency will
perceive what an inexhaustible source of difficulties, of chicanery,
and delay, this might furnish to a person who should find an in-
terest in keeping this money, as long as possible, in his own
hands. Whereas, if it be lodged in the treasury of Congress,
they, by an easy reference to the tribunals of the different States,
can have every one's portion immediately rendered to himself, if
living ; and if dead, to such of his relations as the laws of his
particular State prefer, and as shall be found actually living. I
the rather urge this course, as I foresee that it will relieve your
Excellency from numberless appeals, which these people will
continually be making from the decisions of Mr. Puchilberg ;
appeals likely to perpetuate that trouble of which you have al-
ready had too much, and to which I am sorry to be obliged to
add, by asking a peremptory order for the execution of what
you were before pleased to decide on this subject.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect
respect, your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble ser-
vant.
376 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
TO JOHN ADAMS.
PARFS, August 6, 1785.
DEAR SIR, I now enclose you a draught of a treaty for the
Barbary States, together with the notes Dr. Franklin left me. I
have retained a press copy of this draught, so that by referring
to any article, line and word, in it, you can propose amendments,
and send them by the post, without anybody's being able to
make much of the main subject. I shall be glad to receive any
alterations you may think necessary, as soon as convenient, that
this matter may be in readiness. I enclose also a letter contain-
ing intelligence from Algiers. I know not how far it is to be re-
lied on. My anxiety is extreme indeed, as to these treaties. We
know that Congress have decided ultimately to treat. We know
how far they will go. But unfortunately we know also, that a
particular person has been charged with instructions for us, these
five months, who neither comes nor writes to us. What are we
to do ? It is my opinion, that if Mr. Lambe does not come in
either of the packets (English or French) now expected, we
ought to proceed. I therefore propose to you this term, as the
end of our expectations of him, and that if he does not come,
we send some other person. Dr. Bancroft or Captain Jones oc-
curs to me as the fittest. If we consider the present object only,
I think the former would be the most proper ; but if we look
forward to the very probable event of war with those pirates, an
important object would be obtained by Captain Jones' becoming
acquainted with their ports, force, tactics, &c. Let me know
your opinion on this. I have never mentioned it 'to either, but 1
suppose either might be induced to go. Present me affectionately
to the ladies and Colonel Smith, and be assured of the sincerity
with which I am, dear Sir, your friend and servant.
TO DR. PRICE.
PARIS, August 7, 17S5.
SIR, Your favor of July the 2d came duly to hand. The
concern you therein express as to the effect of your pamphlet in
CORRESPONDENCE. 377
America, induces me to trouble you with some observations on
that subject.
Prom my acquaintance with that country, I think I am able
to judge, with some degree of certainty, of the manner in which
it will have been received. Southward of the Chesapeake, it
will find but few readers concurring with it in sentiment, on the
subject of slavery. From the mouth to the head of the Chesa-
peake, the bulk of the people will approve it in theory, and it
will find a respectable minority ready to adopt it in practice ; a
minority, which for weight and worth of character, preponder-
ates against the greater number, who have not the courage to
divest their families of a property, which, however, keeps their
conscience unquiet. Northward of the Chesapeake, you may
find, here and there, an opponent to your doctrine, as you may
find, here and there, a robber and murderer ; but in no greater
number. In that part of America, there being but few slaves,
they can easily disencumber themselves of them ; and emancipa-
tion is put into such a train, that in a few years there will be no
slaves northward of Maryland. In Maryland, I do not find such
a disposition to begin the redress of this enormity, as in Virginia.
This is the next State to which we may turn our eyes for the in-
teresting spectacle of justice, in conflict with avarice and oppress-
ion ; a conflict wherein the sacred side is gaining daily recruits,
from the influx into office of young men grown, and growing
up. These have sucked in the principles of liberty, as it were,
with their mother's milk ; and it is to them I look with anxiety
to turn the fate of this question. Be not therefore discouraged.
What you have written will do a great deal of good ; and could
you still trouble yourself with our welfare, no man is more able
to give aid to the laboring side. The College of William and
Mary, in Williamsburg, since the re-modelling of its plan, is the
place where are collected together all the young men of Virginia,
under preparation for public life. They are there under the
direction (most of them) of a Mr. Wythe, one of the most vir-
tuous of characters, and whose sentiments on the subject of
slavery are unequivocal. I am satisfied, if you could resolve to
378 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
address an exhortation to those young men, with all that elo-
quence of' which you are master, that its influence on the future
decision of this important question would he great, perhaps deci-
sive. Thus you see, that, so far from thinking you have cause
to repent of what you have done, I wish you to do more, and
wish it, on an assurance of its effect. The information I have
received from America, of the reception of your pamphlet in the
different States, agrees with the expectations I had formed.
Our country is getting into a ferment against yours, or rather
has caught it from yours. God knows how this will end ; hut
assuredly in one extreme or the other. There can be no medium
between those who have loved so much. I think the decision is
in your power as yet, but will not be so long.
I pray you to be assured of the sincerity of the esteem and
respect with which I have the honor to be, Sir, your most
obedient humble servant.
TO JOHN ADAMS.
PARIS, August 10, 1785.
DEAR SIR, Your favor of the 4th instant came to hand yes-
terday. I now enclose you the two Arrets against the importa-
tion of foreign manufactures into this kingdom. The cause of
the balance against this country, in favor of England, as well as
its amount, is not agreed on. No doubt the rage for English
manufactures must be a principal cause. The speculators in ex-
change say also that those of the circumjacent countries who
have a balance in their favor against France, /emit that balance
to England from France. If so, it is possible that the English
may count this balance twice ; that is, in summing their exports
to one of these States, and their imports from it, they count the
difference once in their favor, then a second time when they
sum the remittances of cash they receive from France. There
has been no Arret relative to our commerce since that of August,
CORRESPONDENCE. 379
1784. And all the late advices from the French West Indies
are, that they have now in their ports always three times as
many vessels as there ever were before, and that the increase is
principally from our States. I have now no further fears of that
Arrefs standing its ground. When it shall become firm, I do
not think its extension desperate. But whether the placing it on
the firm basis of treaty be practicable, is a very different ques-
tion. As far as it is possible to judge from appearances, I con-
jecture that Crawford will do nothing. I infer this from some
things in his conversation, and from an expression of the Count
de Vergennes in a conversation with me yesterday. I pressed
upon him the importance of opening their ports freely to us in
the moment of the oppressions of the English regulations against
us, and perhaps of the suspension of their commerce. He ad-
mitted it, but said we had free ingress with our productions. I
enumerated them to him, and showed him on what footing they
were, and how they might be improved. We are to have further
conversations on the subject. I am afraid the voyage to Fon-
tainebleau will interrupt them. From the inquiries I have made,
I find I cannot get a very small and indifferent house there for
the season, (that is, for a month,) for less than one hundred or
one hundred and fifty guineas. This is nearly the whole salary
for the time, and would leave nothing to eat. I therefore can-
not accompany the court thither, but I will endeavor to go there
occasionally from Paris. They tell me it is the most favorable
scene for business with the Count de Vergennes, because he is
then more abstracted from the domestic applications. Count
d'Aranda is not yet returned from the waters of Vichy. As soon
as he returns, I will apply to him in the case of Mr. Watson. I
will pray you to insure Houdon's life from the 27th of last
month till his return to Paris. As he was to stay in America a
month or two, he will probably be about six months absent ; but
the three per cent, for the voyage being once paid, I suppose
thay will insure his life by the month, whether his absence be
longer or shorter. The sum to be insured is fifteen thousand
livres tournois. If it be not necessary to pay the money imme-
380 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
diately, there is a prospect of exchange becoming more favora-
ble. But whenever it is necessary, be so good as to procure it
by selling a draft on Mr. Grand, which I will take care shall be
honored. With compliments to the ladies,
I am, dear Sir, your friend and servant.
TO JOHN JAY.
PAUIS, August 14, 1785.
SIR, I was honored, on the 22d ultimo, with the receipt of
your letter of June the 15th ; and delivered the letter therein en-
closed, from the President of Congress to the King. I took an
opportunity of asking the Count de Vergennes, whether the Chev-
alier Luzerne proposed to return to America ? He answered me
that he did ; and that he was here, for a time only, to arrange his
private affairs. Of course, this stopped my proceeding further,
in compliance with the hint in your letter. I knew that the
Chevalier Luzerne still retained the character of minister to Con-
gress, which occasioned my premising the question I did. But,
notwithstanding the answer, which indeed was the only one the
Count de Vergennes could give me, I believe it is not expected
that the Chevalier will return to America : that he is waiting an
appointment here, to some of their embassies, or some other pro-
motion, and in the meantime, as a favor, is permitted to retain
his former character. Knowing the esteem borne him in America,
I did not suppose it would be wished that I should add anything
which might occasion an injury to him ; and the rather, as I pre-
sumed that at this time, there did not exist the same reason for
wishing the arrival of a minister in America, which, perhaps,
existed there at the date of your letter. Count Adhemar is just
arrived from London, on account of a paralytic disease with
which he has been struck. It does not seem improbable that
his pla.ce will be supplied, and perhaps by the Chevalier de la
Luzerne.
CORRESPONDENCE. 381
A French vessel has lately refused the salute to a British armed
vessel in the channel. The charge des affaires of Great Britain,
at this court, (their ambassador having gone to London a few days
ago,) made this the subject of a conference with the Count de
Vergennes, on Tuesday last. He told me that the Count ex-
plained the transaction as the act of the individual master of the
French vessel, not founded in any public orders. His earnest-
ness, and his endeavors to find terms sufficiently soft to express
the Count's explanation, had no tendency to lessen any doubts I
might have entertained on this subject. I think it possible the
refusal may have been by order : nor can I believe that Great
Britain is in a condition, to resent it, if it was so. In this case,
we shall see it repeated by France ; and her example will then
be soon followed by other nations. The news-writers bring to-
gether this circumstance, with the departure of the French am-
bassador from London, and the English ambassador from Paris, the
manoeuvring of a French fleet just off the channel, the collecting
some English vessels of war in the channel, the failure of a com-
mercial treaty between the two countries, and a severe Arret here
against English manufactures, as foreboding war. It is possible
that the fleet of manoBuvre, the refusal of the salute, and the Eng-
lish fleet of observation, may have a connection with one another.
But I am persuaded the other facts are totally independent of
these, and of one another, and are accidentally brought together
in point of time. Neither nation is in a condition to go to war :
Great Britain, indeed, the least so of the two. The latter power,
or rather, its monarch, as Elector of Hanover, has lately confeder-
ated with the King of Prussia and others of the Germanic body,
evidently in opposition to the Emperor's designs on Bavaria. An
alliance, too, between the Empress of Russia and the republic of
Venice, seems to have had him in view, as he had meditated
some exchange of territory with that republic. This desertion of
the powers heretofore thought friendly to him, seems to leave no
issue for his ambition, but on the side of Turkey. His demarka-
tion with that country is still unsettled. His difference with the
Dutch is certainly agreed. The articles are not yet made public ;
382 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
perhaps not. quite adjusted. Upon the whole, we may count on
another year's peace in Europe, and that our friends will not,
within that time, he brought into any embarrassments, which
might encourage Great Britain to be difficult in settling the points
still unsettled between us.
You have, doubtless, seen in the papers, that this court was
sending two vessels into the south sea, under the conduct of a
Captain Peyrouse. They give out, that the object is merely for
the improvement of our knowledge of the geography of that part
of the globe. And certain it is, that they carry men of eminence,
in different branches of science. Their loading, however, as de-
tailed in conversations, and some other .circumstances, appeared
to me to indicate some other design : perhaps that of colonizing
on the western coast of America ; or, it may be, only to establish
one or more factories there, for the fur trade. Perhaps we may
be little interested in either of these objects. But we are inter-
ested in another, that is, to know whether they are perfectly
weaned from the desire of possessing continental colonies in
America. Events might arise, which would render it very desi-
rable for Congress to be satisfied they have no such wish. If
they would desire a colony on the western side of America, I
should not be quite satisfied that they would refuse one which
should offer itself on the eastern side. Captain Paul Jones being
at L'Orient, within a day's journey of Brest, where Captain Pey-
rouse's vessels lay, I desired him, if he could not satisfy himself
at L'Orient of the nature of this equipment, to go to Brest for
that purpose : conducting himself so as to excite no suspicion
that we attended at all to this expedition. His discretion can
be relied on, and his expenses for so short a journey, will be a
trifling price for satisfaction on this point. I hope, therefore,
that my undertaking that the expenses of his journey shall be
reimbursed him will not be disapproved.
A gentleman, lately arrived from New York, tells me he thinks
it will be satisfactory to Congress to be informed of the effect
produced here by the insult of Longchamps on Monsieur de Mar-
bois. Soon after my arrival in France last summer, it was the
CORRESPONDENCE. 383
matter of a converssation between the Count de Vergennes and
myself. I explained to him the effect of the judgment against
Longchamps. He did not say that it was satisfactory, but neither
did he say a word from which I could collect that it was not so
The conversation was not official, because foreign to the character
in which I then was. He has never mentioned a word on the
subject to me since, and it was not for me to introduce it at any
time. I have never once heard it mentioned in conversation, by
any person of this country, and have no reason to suppose that
there remains any uneasiness on the subject. I have indeed been
told, that they had sent orders to make a formal demand of Long-
champs from Congress, and had immediately countermanded these
orders. You know whether this be true. If it be, I should sus-
pect the first orders to have been surprised from them by some
exaggeration, and that the latter was a correction of their error, in
the moment of further reflection. Upon the whole, there cer-r
tainly appears to me no reason to urge the State, in which the
fact happened, to any violation of their laws, nor to set a prece-
dent which might hereafter be used in cases more interesting to
us than the late one.
In a late conversation with the Count de Vergennes, he asked
me if the condition of our finances was improving. He did not
make an application of the question to the arrearages of their in-
terest, though perhaps he meant that I should apply it. I told
him . the impost still found obstacles, and explained to him the
effects which I hoped from our land office. Your letter of the
15th of April, did not come to hand till the 27th ultimo. I en-
close a letter from Mr. Dumas to the President of Congress, and
accompany the present with the Leyden Gazette and Gazette of
France, from the date last sent you to the present time.
I have the honor to be, with high esteem, Sir, your most obe-
dient, and most humble servant.
384 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
TO JOHN JAY.
PARIS, August 14, 1785.
, The letter of June 18th, signed by Dr. Franklin and
myself, is the last addressed to you from hence on the objects of
the general commission. As circumstances rendered it necessary
that the signature of the Prussian treaty, whenever it should be
in readiness, should be made separately, the intervention of a
person of confidence between the Prussian Plenipotentiary and
us became also requisite. His office would be to receive the
duplicates of the treaty here, signed by Dr. Franklin and myself,
to carry them to London to Mr. Adams, and to the Hague to
Baron Thulemeyer for their signatures. Moreover, to take hence
the original of our full powers to show to Baron Thulemeyer,
and the copy of his which he has before communicated to us, to
ask from him a sight of the original, to compare the copy with
it, and certify the latter to be true. Mr. Adams, Dr. Franklin,
and myself, therefore, had concluded to engage Mr. Short (a
gentleman of Virginia who lives with me at present) to transact
this business, and to invest him with the character of Secretary
pro hac vice, in order that his signature of the truth of the copy
of Baron Thulemcyer's full powers might authenticate that copy.
On the receipt of the letter No. 1, therefore, from that minister,
Mr. Short set out hence with the necessary papers. By a letter
lately received from him, I expect he left London for the Hague
about the 10th instant, and that the treaty is ultimately executed
by this time. In reppect to the desire expressed by Baron
Thulemeyer in his letter, we associated Mr. Dumas with Mr.
Short to assist in the exchange of signatures and other ceremonies
of execution. We agreed to bear Mr. Short's expenses, and
have thought that a guinea a day (Sundays excluded) would be
a proper compensation for his trouble and the necessary equip-
ments for his journey, which could not enter into the account of
travelling expenses. I hope by the first safe conveyance to bo
able to forward to you the original of the treaty. No 2 is my
COKKESPONDENCE. 385
answer lo Baron Thulemeyer's letter, No. 3 our instructions to
Mr. Short, and No. 4 letter to Mr. Dumas.
Mr. Lambe's delay gives me infinite unneasiness. You will
see by the inclosed papers, Nos. 5, 6, and 7, sent me by Mr.
Carmichael, that the Emperor of Morocco, at the instance of the
Spanish Court, has delivered up the crew of the Betsey. No. 8,
also received from Mr. Carmichael, is a list of the articles given
the Emperor of Morocco the last year by the States General.
It is believed that the Spanish negociator at Algiers has con-
cluded a peace with that State, and has agreed to give them a
million of dollars, besides a very considerable quantity of things
in kind. The treaty meets with difficulties in the ratification,
perhaps the exorbitance of the price may occasion them.
Rumors are spread abroad that they are pointing their prepara-
tions at us. The enclosed paper, No. 9, is the only colorable
evidence of this which has come to my knowledge. I have
proposed to Mr. Adams that if Mr. Lambe does not come either
in the French or English packet, then (August 6) next expected,
to send some person immediately to negotiate these treaties, on
the presumption that Mr. Lambe's purpose has been changed.
We shall still be at a loss for the instructions of which he is said
to have been the bearer. I expect Mr. Adams's answer on this
subject.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the highest respect
and esteem, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO THE COUNT DE VERGENNES.
PARIS, August 15, 1785.
SIR, In the conversation which I had the honor of having
with your Excellency, a few days ago, on the importance oi
placing, at this time, the commerce between France and Ame-
rica on the best footing possible, among other objects of this
commerce, that of tobacco was mentioned, as susceptible of
VOL. i. 25
386 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
greater encouragement and advantage to the two nations. Al-
ways distrusting what I say in a language I speak so imper-
fectly, I will beg your permission to state, in English, the sub-
stance of what I had then the honor to observe, adding some
more particular details for your consideration.
I find the consumption of tobacco in France estimated at
from fifteen to thirty millions of pounds. The most probable
estimate, however, places it at twenty-four millions.
This costing eight sous the pound, delivered in a port of France,
amounts to 9,600,000 livres.
Allow six sous a pound, as the average cost of the different manu-
factures 7,200,000
The revenue which the King derives from this, is something less
than 30,000,000
Which would make the cost of the whole 46,800,000
But it is sold to the consumers at an average of three livres the
pound 72,000,000
There remain, then, for the expenses of collection . . . 25. 200,000 Tivres.
This is within a sixth as much as the King receives, and so
gives nearly one half for collecting the other. It would be
presumption in me, a stranger, to suppose my numbers perfectly
accurate. I have taken them from the best and most disinter-
ested authorities I could find. Your Excellency will know how
far they are wrong ; and should you find them considerably
wrong, yet I am persuaded you will find, after strictly correcting
them, that the collection of this branch of the revenue still
absorbs too much.
My apology for making these remarks will, I hope, be found
in my wishes to improve the commerce between the two nations,
and the interest which my own country will derive from this
improvement. The monopoly of the purchase of tobacco in
France discourages both the French and American merchant
from bringing it here, and from taking in exchange the manu-
factures and productions of France. It is contrary to the spirit
of trade, and to the dispositions of merchants, to carry a com-
modity to any market where but one person is allowed to buy it,
CORRESPONDENCE. 387
and where, of course, that person fixes its price, which the seller
must receive, or re-export his commodity, at the loss of his voy-
age thither. Experience accordingly shows, that they carry it
to other markets, and that they take in exchange the merchan-
dise of the place where they deliver it. I am misinformed, if
France has not been furnished from a neighboring nation with
considerable quantities of tobacco since the peace, and been
obliged to pay there in coin, what might have been paid here in
manufactures, had the French and American merchants brought
the tobacco originally here. I suppose, too, that the purchases
made by the Farmers General, in America, are paid for chiefly
in coin, which coin is also remitted directly hence to England,
and makes an important part of the balance supposed to be in
favor of that nation against this. Should the Farmers General,
by themselves, or by the company to whom they may commit
the procuring these tobaccos from America, require, for the satis-
faction of government on this head, the exportation of a propor-
tion of merchandise in exchange for them, it would be an un-
promising expedient. It would only commit the exports, as well
as imports, between France and America, to a monopoly, which,
being secure against rivals in the sale of the merchandise of
France, would not be likely to sell at such moderate prices as
might encourage its consumption there, and enable it to bear a
competition with similar articles from other countries. I am per-
suaded this exportation of coin may be prevented, and that of
commodities effected, by leaving both operations to the French
and American merchants, instead of the Farmers General. They
will import a sufficient quantity of tobacco, if they are allowed
a perfect freedom in the sale ; and they will receive in payment,
wines, oils, brandies, and manufactures, instead of coin ; forcing
each other, by their competition, to bring tobaccos of the best
quality ; to give to the French manufacturer the full worth of
his merchandise, and to sell to the American consumer at the
lowest price they can afford ; thus encouraging him to use, in
preference, the merchandise of this country.
It is not necessary that this exchange should be favored by
388 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
any loss of revenue to the King. I do not mean to urge any-
thing which shall injure either his Majesty or his people. On
the contrary, the measure I have the honor of proposing, will
increase his revenue, while it places both the seller and buyer on
a better footing. It is not for me to say, what system of collec-
tion may be best adapted to the organization of this government ;
nor whether any useful hints may be taken from the practice of
that country, which has heretofore been the principal entrepot
for this commodity. Their system is simple and little expensive.
The importer, there, pays the whole duty to the King ; and as
this would be inconvenient for him to do before he has sold his
tobacco, he is permitted, on arrival, to deposit it in the King's
warehouse, under the locks of the King's officer. As soon as he
has sold it, he goes with the purchaser to the warehouse, the
money is there divided between the King and him, to each his
proportion, and the purchaser takes out the tobacco. The pay-
ment of the King's duty is thus ensured in ready money. What
is the expense of its collection, I cannot say ; but it certainly
need not exceed six livres a hogshead of one thousand pounds.
That government levies a higher duty on tobacco than is levied
here. Yet so tempting and so valuable is the perfect liberty of
sale, that the merchant carries it there, and finds his account in
doing so.
If, by a simplification of the collection of the King's duty on
tobacco, the cost of that collection can be reduced even to five
per cent., or a million and a half, instead of twenty-five millions ;
the price to the consumer will be reduced from three to two livres
the pound. For thus I calculate :
The cost, manufacture, and revenue, on twenty -four million pounds
of tobacco boing (as before stated) 46,800,000 livres.
Five per cent, on thirty millions of livres, expenses of collection 1 500,000
Give -what the consumers would pay, being about two livres a
pound ... 48,300,000
But they pay at present three livres a pound .... 72,000,000
The difference is 23,700,000
The price, being thus reduced one-third, would be brought
CORRESPONDENCE. 389
within the reach of a new and numerous circle of the people,
who cannot, at present, afford themselves this luxury. The con-
sumption, then, would probably increase, and perhaps, in the same
if not a greater proportion, with the reduction of the price ; that
is to say, from twenty-four to thirty-six millions of pounds ; and
the King, continuing to receive twenty-five sous on the pound,
as at present, would receive forty-five instead of thirty millions
of livres, while his subjects would pay but two livres for an ob-
ject which has heretofore cost them three. Or if, in event, the
consumption were not to be increased, he would levy only forty-
eight millions on his people, where seventy-two millions are now
levied, and would leave twenty-four millions in their pockets,
either to remain there, or to be levied in some other form, should
the state of revenue require it. It will enable his subjects, also,
to dispose of between nine and ten millions worth of their pro-
duce and manufactures, instead of sending nearly that sum an-
nually, in coin, to enrich a neighboring nation.
I have heard two objections made to the suppression of this
monopoly. 1. That it might increase the importation of tobac-
co in contraband. 2. That it would lessen the abilities of the
Farmers General to make occasional loans of money to the pub-
lic treasury. These objections will surely be better answered by
those who are better acquainted than I am with the details and
circumstances of the country. With respect to the first, how-
ever, I may observe, that contraband does not increase on lessen-
ing the temptations to it. It is now encouraged by those who
engage in it being able to sell for sixty sous what cost but four-
teen, leaving a gain of forty-six sous. When the price shall be
reduced from sixty to forty sous, the gain will be but twenty-
six, that is to say, a little more than one-half of what it is at pre-
sent. It does not seem a natural consequence then, that contra-
band should be increased by reducing its gain nearly one-half.
As to the second objection, if we suppose (for elucidation and
without presuming to fix) the proportion of the farm on tobacco,
at one-eighth of the whole mass farmed, the abilities of the
Farmers General to lend, will be reduced one-eighth, that is,
390 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
they can hereafter lend only seven millions, where heretofore
they have lent eight. It is to be considered then, whether this
eighth (or other proportion, whatever it be) is worth the annual
sacrifice of twenty-four millions, or if a much smaller sacrifice
to other moneyed men, will not produce the same loans of money
in the ordinary way.
While the advantages of an increase of revenue to the crown,
a diminution of impost on the people, and a payment in mer-
chandise, instead of money, are conjectured as likely to result to
France from a suppression of the monopoly on tobacco, we have
also reason to hope some advantages on our part ; and this hope
alone could justify my entering into the present details. I do
not expect this advantage will be by any augmentation of price.
The other markets of Europe have too much influence on this
article to admit any sensible augmentation of price to take place.
But the advantage I principally expect is an increase of consump-
tion. This will give us a vent for so much more, and, of con-
sequence, find employment for so many more cultivators of the
earth ; and in whatever proportion it increases this production
for us, in the same proportion will it procure additional vent for
the merchandise of France, and employment for the hands which
produce it. I expect, too, that by bringing our merchants
here, they would procure a number of commodities in exchange,
better in kind, and cheaper in price. It is with sincerity I add,
that warm feelings are indulged in my breast by the further
hope, that it would bind the two nations still closer in friend-
ship, by binding them in interest. In truth, no two countries
are better calculated for the exchanges of commerce. France
wants rice, tobacco, potash, furs, and ship-timber. We want
wines, brandies, oils, and manufactures. There is an affection,
too, between the two people, which disposes them to favor one
another. If they do not come together, then, to make the ex-
changes in their own ports, it shows there is some substantial ob-
structions in the way. We have had the benefit of too many
proofs of his Majesty's friendly disposition towards the United
States, and know too well his affectionate care of his own sub-
CORRESPONDENCE. 391
jects, to doubt his willingness to remove these obstructions, if
they can be unequivocally pointed out. It is for his wisdom to
decide, whether the monopoly,which is the subject of this letter,
be deservedly classed with the principal of these. It is a great
comfort to me, too, that, in presenting this to the mind of his
Majesty, your Excellency will correct my ideas where an insuf-
ficient knowledge of facts may have led me into error ; and that,
while the interests of the King and of his people are the first
objects of your attention, an additional one will be presented by
those dispositions toward us, which have heretofore so often be-
friended our nation.
I avail myself of this occasion to repeat the assurance of that
high respect and esteem, with which I have the honor to be
your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO CAPTAIN JOHN PAUL JONES.
PARIS, August 17, 1785.
SIR, Mine of the 13th informed you that I had written to
the M. de Castries on the subject of Puchilberg's interference.
Yesterday I received his answer dated the 12th. In that he
says that he is informed by the Ordonneteur that he has not
been able to get an authentic roll of the crew of the Alliance,
and that, in the probable case of there having been some French
subjects among them, it will be just that you should give secu-
rity to repay their portions. I wrote to him this morning, that
as you have obliged yourself to transmit the money to the treas-
ury of this United States, it does not seem just to require you to
be answerable for money which will be no longer within your
power ; that the repayment of such portions will be incumbent
on Congress ; that I will immediately solicit their orders to have
all such claims paid by their banker here; and that, should any
be presented before I receive their orders, I will undertake to di-
rect the banker of the United States to pay them, that there may
892 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
be no delay. I trust that this will remove the difficulty, and
that it is the last which will be offered. The ultimate answer
shall be communicated the moment I receive it. Having pledged
myself for the claims which may be offered before I receive the
orders of Congress, it is necessary to arm myself with the proper
checks. Can you give me a roll of the crew, pointing out the
French subjects ? If not, can you recollect personally the French
subjects, and name them to me, and the sums they are entitled
to ? If there were none such, yet the roll will be material, be-
cause I have no doubt that Puchilberg will excite claims upon
me, either true or false.
I am, with much respect, Sir,
Your most obedient humble servant.
TO WILLIAM CARMICHAEL.
PARIS, August IS, 1785.
DEAR SIR, My last to you was of June the 22d, with a post-
script of July the 14th. Yours of June the 27th came to hand
the 23d of July, and that of July the 28th came to hand the
10th instant. The papers enclosed in the last shall be communi-
cated to Mr. Adams. I see with extreme satisfaction and grati-
tude the friendly interposition of the court of Spain with the
Emperor of Morocco on the subject of the brig Betsey, and I am
persuaded it will produce the happiest effects in America. Those,
who are intrusted with the public affairs there, are sufficiently
sensible how essential it is for our interest to cultivate peace with
Spain, and they will be pleased to see a corresponding disposition
in that court. The late good office of emancipating a number
of our countrymen from slavery is peculiarly calculated to pro-
duce a sensation among our people, and to dispose them to relish
and adopt the pacific and friendly views of their leaders towards
Spain. We hear nothing yet of Mr. Lambe. I have therefore
lately proposed to Mr. Adams, that if he does not come in the
CORRESPONDENCE. 393
French or English packet of this month, we will wait no longer.
If he accedes to the proposition, you will be sure of hearing of,
and, perhaps, of seeing, some agent proceeding on that business.
The immense sum, said to have been proposed on the part of
Spain to Algiers, leaves us little hope of satisfying their avarice.
It may happen, then, that the interests of Spain and America may
call for a concert of proceedings against that State. The dispo-
sitions of the Emperor of Morocco give us better hopes there.
May not the affairs of the Musquito coast, and our western ports,
produce another instance of a common interest ? Indeed, I
meet this correspondence of interest in so many quarters, that
I look with anxiety to the issue of Mr. Gardoqui's mission,
hoping it will be a removal of the only difficulty at present
subsisting between the two nations, or which is likely to
arise.
Congress are not likely to adjourn this summer. They have
purchased the Indian right of soil to about fifty millions of acres
of land between the Ohio and lakes, and expected to make an-
other purchase of an equal quantity. They have, in consequence,
passed an ordinance for disposing of their lands, and I think a
very judicious one. They propose to sell them at auction for not
less than a dollar an acre, receiving their own certificates of debt
as money. I am of opinion, all the certificates of our domestic
debt will immediately be exchanged for land. Our foreign debt,
in that case, will soon be discharged. New York and Rhode Is-
land still refuse the impost. A general disposition is taking place
to commit the whole management of our commerce to Congress.
This has been much promoted by the interested policy of Eng-
land, which, it was apparent, could not be counter-worked by
the States separately. In the meantime, the other great towns
are acceding to the proceedings of Boston for annihilating, in a
great measure, their commercial connections with Great Britain.
I will send the cypher by a gentleman, who goes from here to
Madrid about a month hence. It shall be a copy of the one I
gave Mr. Adams. The letter of Don Gomez has been delivered
394 JEFFERSON'S WOKKS.
at the hotel of the Portuguese ambassador, who is, however, in
the country.
I am, with much respect, dear Sir,
Your most obedient humble servant.
TO MRS. TR1ST.
PARIS, August 18, 1785.
DEAR MADAM,
I am much pleased with the people of this country. The
roughness of the human mind are so thoroughly rubbed off with
them, that it seems as if one might glide through a whole life
among them without a jostle. Perhaps, too, their manners may
be the best calculated for happiness to a people in their situation,
but I am convinced they fall far short of effecting a happiness so
temperate, so uniform, and so lasting as is generally enjoyed with
us. The domestic bonds here are absolutely done away, and
where can their compensation be found? Perhaps they may
catch some moments of transport above the level of the ordinary
tranquil joy we experience, but they are separated by long inter-
vals, during which all the passions are at sea without rudder or
compass. Yet, fallacious as the pursuits of happiness are, they
seem on the whole to furnish the most effectual abstraction frcm
a contemplation of the hardness of their government. Indeed,
it is difficult to conceive how so good a people, with so good a
King, so well-disposed rulers in general, so genial a climate, so
fertile a soil, should be rendered so ineffectual for producing
human happiness by one single curse, that of a bad form of
government. But it is a fact, in spite of the mildness of their
governors, the people are ground to powder by the vices of the
form of government. Of twenty millions of people supposed to
be in France, I am of opinion there are nineteen millions more
wretched, more accursed in every circumstance of human exist-
CORRESPONDENCE. 395
ence than the most conspicuously wretched individual of the
whole United States. I beg your pardon for getting into poli-
tics. I will add only one sentiment more of that character, that
is, nourish peace with their persons, hut war against their man-
ners. Every step we take towards the adoption of their man-
ners is a step to perfect misery. I pray you to write to me often.
Do not you turn politician too ; hut write me all the small news
the news about persons and about states ; tell me who dies, that I
may meet these disagreeable events in detail, and not all at once
when I return ; who marry, who hang themselves because they
cannot marry, &c. Present me in the most friendly terms to
Mrs. House and Browse, and be assured of the sincerity with
which I am, dear Madam,
Your affectionate friend and servant.
TO PETER CARB.
PARIS, August 19, 1T85.
DEAR PETER, I received, by Mr. Mazzei, your letter of April
the 20th. I am much mortified to hear that you have lost so
much time ; and that, when you arrived in Williamsburg, you
were not at all advanced from what you were when you left
Monticello. Time now begins to be precious to you. Every
day you lose will retard a day your entrance on that public
stage whereon you may begin to be useful to yourself. How-
ever, the way to repair the loss is to improve the future time.
I trust, that with your dispositions, even the acquisition of
science is a pleasing employment. I can assure you, that the
possession of it is, what (next to an honest heart) will above all
things render you dear to your friends, and give you fame and
promotion in your own country. When your mind shall be well
improved with science, nothing will be necessary to place you in
the highest points of view, but to pursue the interests of your
country, the interests of your friends, and your own interests
396 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
also, with the purest integrity, the most chaste honor. The de-
fect of these virtues can never be made up by all the other ac-
quirements of body and mind. Make these, then, your first ob-
ject. Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give the
earth itself and all it contains, rather than do an immoral act.
And never suppose, that in any possible situation, or under any
circumstances, it is best for you to do a dishonorable thing, how-
ever slightly so it may appear to you. Whenever you are to do
a thing, though it can never be known but to yourself, ask your-
self how you would act were all the world looking at you, and
act accordingly. Encourage all your virtuous dispositions, and
exercise them whenever an opportunity arises ; being assured
that they will gain strength by exercise, as a limb of the body
does, and that exercise will make them habitual. From the
practice of the purest virtue, you may be assured you will de-
rive the most sublime comforts in every moment of life, and in
the moment of death. If ever you find yourself environed with
difficulties and perplexing circumstances, out of which you are
at a loss how to extricate yourself, do what is right, and be as-
sured that that will extricate you the best out of the worst situa-
tions. Though you cannot see, when you take one step, what
will be the next, yet follow truth, justice, and plain dealing, and
never fear their leading you out of the labyrinth, in the easiest
manner possible. The knot which you thought a Gordian one,
will untie itself before you. Nothing is so mistaken as the sup-
position, that a person is to extricate himself from a difficulty,
by intrigue, by chicanery, by dissimulation, by trimming, by
an untruth, by an injustice. This increases the difficulties ten-
fold ; and those, who pursue these methods, get themselves so
involved at length, that they can turn no way but their infamy
becomes more exposed. It is of great importance to set a reso-
lution, not to be shaken, never to tell an untruth. There is no
vice so mean, so pitiful, so contemptible ; and he who permits
himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second
and third time, till at length it becomes habitual ; he tells lies
without attending to it, and truths without the world's believing
CORRESPONDENCE. 397
him. This falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart,
and in time depraves all its good dispositions.
An honest heart being the first blessing, a knowing head is
the second. It is time for you now to begin to be choice in
your reading ; to begin to pursue a regular course in it ; and not
to suffer yourself to be turned to the right or left by reading
anything out of that course. I have long ago digested a plan for
you, suited to the circumstances in which you will be placed.
This I will detail to you, from time to time, as you advance.
For the present, I advise you to begin a course of ancient his-
tory, reading everything in the original and not in translations.
First read Goldsmith's history of Greece. This will give you a
digested view of that field. Then take up ancient history in
the detail, reading the following books, in the following order :
Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophontis Anabasis, Arrian, Quintus
Curtius, Diodorus Siculus, Justin. This shall form the first
stage of your historical reading, and is all 1 need mention to you
now. The next will be of Roman history.* From that, we
will come down to modern history. In Greek and Latin poetry,
you have read or will read at school, Virgil, Terence, Horace,
Anacreon, Theocritus, Homer, Euripides, Sophocles. Read
also Milton's Paradise Lost, Shakspeare, Ossian, Pope's and
Swift's works, in order to form your style in your own lan-
guage. In morality, read Epictetus, Xenophontis Memorabilia,
Plato's Socratic dialogues, Cicero's philosophies, Antoninus, and
Seneca. In order to assure a certain progress in this reading,
consider what hours you have free from the school and the ex-
ercises of the school. Give about two of them, every day, to
exercise ; for health must not be sacrificed to learning. A strong
body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercise, I
advise the gun. While this gives a moderate exercise to the
body, it gives boldness, enterprise, and independence to the
mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature,
are too violent for the body, and stamp no character on the
* Livy, Sallust, Caesar, Cicero's epistles, Suetonius. Tacitus, Gibbon.
JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
mind. Let your gun, therefore, be the constant companion of
your walks. Never think of taking a book with you. The
object of walking is to relax the mind. You should therefore
not permit yourself even to think while you walk ; but divert
yourself by the objects surrounding you. Walking is the best
possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far. The
Europeans value themselves on having subdued the horse to
the uses of man ; but I doubt whether we have not lost more
than we have gained, by the use of this animal. No one has
occasioned so much the degeneracy of the human body. An
Indian goes on foot nearly as far in a day, for a long journey,
as an enfeebled white does on his horse ; and he will tire the
best horses. There is no habit you will value so much as that
of walking far without fatigue. I would advise you to take
your exercise in the afternoon : not because it is the best time
for exercise, for certainly it is not ; but because it is the best
time to spare from your studies ; and habit will soon reconcile it
to health, and render it nearly as useful as if you gave to that
the more precious hours of the day. A little walk of half an
hour, in the morning, when you first rise, is advisable also. It
shakes off sleep, and produces other good effects in the animal
economy. Rise at a fixed and an early hour, and go to bed at
a fixed and early hour also. Sitting up late at night is injurious
to the health, and not useful to the mind. Having ascribed
proper hours to exercise, divide what remain (I mean of your
vacant hours) into three portions. Give the principal to History,
the other two, which should be shorter, to Philosophy and
Poetry. Write to me once every month or two, and let me
know the progress you make. Tell me in what manner you
employ every hour in the day. The plan I have proposed for
you is adapted to your present situation only. When that is
changed, I shall propose a corresponding change of plan. I
have ordered the following books to be sent to you from Lon-
don, to the care of Mr. Madison : Herodotus, Thucydides,
Xenophon's Hellenics, Anabasis and Memorabilia, Cicero's
works, Baretti's Spanish and English Dictionary, Martin's Philo-
CORRESPONDENCE. 399
sophical Grammar, and Martin's Philosophia Britannica. I will
send you the following from hence : Bezout's Mathematics, De
la Lande's Astronomy, Muschenbrock's Physics, duintus Cur-
tius, Justin, a Spanish Grammar, and some Spanish books.
You will observe that Martin, Bezout, De la Lande, and Musch-
enbrock, are not in the preceding plan. They are not to be
opened till you go to the University. You are now, I expect,
learning French. You must push this ; because the books
which will be put into your hands when you advance into
Mathematics, Natural philosophy, Natural history, &c., will be
mostly French, these sciences being better treated by the French
than the English writers. Our future connection with Spain
renders that the most necessary of the modern languages, after
the French. When you become a public man, you may have
occasion for it, and the circumstance of your possessing that
language, may give you a preference over other candidates. I
have nothing further to add for the present, but husband well
your time, cherish your instructors, strive to make everybody
your friend ; and be assured that nothing will be so pleasing as
your success to, Dear Peter,
Yours affectionately.
TO JOHN PAGE.
PARIS, August 20, 1785.
DEAR PAGE, I received your friendly letter of April the 28th,
by Mr. Mazzei, on the 22d of July. That of the month before,
by Monsieur le Croix, has not come to hand. This correspon-
dence is grateful to some of my warmest feelings, as the friend-
ships of my youth are those which adhere closest to me, and in
which I most confide. My principal happiness is now in the
retrospect of life.
I thank you for your notes of your operations on the Pennsyl-
vania boundary. I am in hopes that from yourself, Madison,
400 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
Rittenhouse or Hatchings, I shall receive a chart of the line as
actually run. It will be a great present to me. I think Hutch-
ings promised to send it to me. I have been much pleased to
hear you had it in contemplation, to endeavor to establish Rit-
tenhouse in our College. This would be an immense acquisi-
tion, and would draw youth to it from every part of the conti-
nent. You will do much more honor to our society, on reviving
it, by placing him at its head, than so useless a member as I
should be. I have been so long diverted from this my favorite
line, and that, too, without acquiring an attachment to my adopted
one, that I am become a mongrel, of no decided order, unowned
by any, and incapable of serving any. I should feel myself out
of my true place too, to stand before McLurg. But why with-
draw yourself? You have more zeal, more application, and more
constant attention to the subjects proper to the society, and can,
therefore, serve them best.
The affair of the Emperor and Dutch is settled, though not
signed. The particulars have not yet transpired. That of the
Bavarian exchange is dropped, and his views on Venice defeated.
The alliance of Russia with Venice, to prevent his designs in
that quarter, and that of the Hanoverian Elector with the King
of Prussia and other members of the Germanic body, to prevent
his acquisition of Bavaria, leave him in a solitary situation. In
truth, he has lost much reputation by his late manosuvres. He is
a restless, ambitious character, aiming at everything, persevering
in nothing, taking up designs without calculating the force which
will be opposed to him, and dropping them on the appearance of
firm opposition. He has some just views, and much activity.
The only quarter in which the peace of Europe seems at present
capable of being disturbed, is on that of the Porte. It is be-
lieved that the Emperor and Empress have schemes in contem-
plation, for driving the Turks out of Europe. Were this with a
view to re-establish the native Greeks in the sovereignty of their
own country, I could wish them success, and to see driven from
that delightful country a set of barbarians, with whom an oppo-
sition to all science is an article of religion. The modern Greek
CORRESPONDENCE. 401
is not yet so far departed from its ancient model, but that we
might still hope to see the language of Homer and Demosthenes
flow with purity, from the lips of a free and ingenious people.
But these powers have in object to divide the country between
themselves. This is only to substitute one set of barbarians for
another, breaking, at the same time, the balance among the Eu-
ropean powers. You have been told, with truth, that the Em-
peror of Morocco has shown a disposition to enter into treaty
with us ; but not truly, that Congress has not attended to his ad-
vances, and thereby disgusted him. It is long since they took
measures to meet his advances. But some unlucky incidents
have delayed their effect. His dispositions continue good. As
a proof of this, he has lately released freely, and clothed well,
the crew of an American brig he took last winter ; the only ves-
sel ever taken from us by any of the States of Barbary. But
what is the English of these good dispositions? Plainly this ; he
is ready to receive us into the number of his tributaries. What
will be the amount of tribute, remains yet to be known, but it
probably will not be as small as you may have conjectured. It
will surely be more than a free people ought to pay to a power
owning only four or five frigates, under twenty-two guns : lie has
not a port into which a larger vessel can enter. The Algerines
possess fifteen or twenty frigates, from that size up to fifty guns.
Disinclination on their part, has lately broken off a treaty be-
tween Spain and them, whereon they were to have received a
million of dollars, besides great presents in naval stores. What
sum they intend we shall pay, I cannot say. Then follow Tunis
and Tripoli. You will probably find the tribute to all these pow-
ers make such a proportion of the federal taxes, as that every man
will feel them sensibly, when he pays those taxes. The ques-
tion is, whether their peace or war will be cheapest ? But it is a
question which should be addressed to our honor, as well as our
avarice. IN or does it respect us as to these pirates only, but as tc
the nations of Europe. If we wish our commerce to be free
and uninsulted, we must let these nations see, that we have an
energy which at present they disbelieve. The low opinion they
VOL. i. 23
402 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
entertain of our powers, cannot fail to involve us soon, in a
naval war.
I shall send you with this, if I can, and if not, then by the
first good conveyance, the Connoissance de terns for the years
1786 and 1787, being all as yet published. You will find in
these the tables for the planet Herschel, as far as the observations
hitherto made, admit them to be calculated. You will see, also,
that Herschel was only the first astronomer who discovered it to
be a planet, and not the first who saw it. Mayer saw it in the
year 1756, and placed it in the catalogue of his zodiacal stars,
supposing it to be such. A Prussian astronomer, in the year 1781,
observed that the 964th star of Mayer's catalogue was missing ;
and the calculations now prove that at the time Mayer saw his
964th star, the planet Herschel should have been precisely in the
place where he noted that star. I shall send you also a little
publication here, called the Bibliotheque Physico-ceconomique.
It will communicate all the improvements and new discoveries
in the arts and sciences, made in Europe for some years past. I
shall be happy to hear from you often. Details, political and lit-
erary, and even of the small history of our country, are the most
pleasing communications possible. Present me affectionately to
Mrs. Page, and to your family, in the members of which, though
unknown to me, I feel an interest on account of their parents.
Believe me to be with warm esteem, dear Page, your sincere
friend and servant.
TO THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA.
PARIS, August 22, 1785.
SIR, I was honored yesterday with your Excellency's letter
of June the 16th, enclosing the resolution of Assembly relative
to the bust of the M. de La Fayette. I shall render cheerfully
any services I can in aid of Mr. Barclay for carrying this resolu-
tion into effect. The M. de La Fayette being to pass into Ger-
CORRESPONDENCE. 403
many and Prussia, it was thought proper to take the model of
his bust in plaister before his departure. Monsieur Houdon was
engaged to do it, and did it accordingly. So far Mr. Barclay
had thought himself authorized to go in consequence of orders
formerly received. You will be so good as to instruct me as to
the moneys hereafter to be remitted to me, whether I am to ap-
ply them solely to the statue of General Washington, or to that,
and the Marquis's bust in common, as shall be necessary. Sup-
posing you wish to know the application of the money's remit-
ted from time to time, I state hereon an account thereof so far as
I am able at present. Before your receipt of this letter I am in
hopes mine of July llth, by Monsieur Houdon, will have come to
your hands ; in that I enclosed you a copy of the contract with him.
I have the honor to be, with due respect, your Excellency's
most obedient, and most humble servant,
TH: JEFFERSON.
TO JOHN JAY.
(Private.) PARIS, August 23, 1785.
DEAR SIR, I shall sometimes ask your permission to write
you letters, not official, but -private. The present is of this kind,
and is occasioned by the question proposed in yours of June the
14th ; " whether it would be useful to us, to cany all our own
productions, or none ?"
Were we perfectly free to decide this question, I should reason
as follows. We have now lands enough to employ an infinite
number of people in their cultivation. Cultivators of the earth
are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the
most independent, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their
country, and wedded to its liberty and interests, by the most
lasting bonds. As long, therefore, as they can find employment
in this line, I would not convert them into mariners, artisans, or
anything else. But our citizens will find employment in this
line, till their numbers, and of course their productions, become
404 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
too great for the demand, both internal and foreign. This is not
the case as yet, and probably will not be for a considerable time.
As soon as it is, the surplus of hands must be turned to some-
thing else. I should then, perhaps, wish to turn them to the sea
in preference to manufactures ; because, comparing the charac-
ters of the two classes, I find the former the most valuable cit-
izens. I consider the class of artificers as the panders of vice,
and the instruments by which the liberties of a country are gen-
erally overturned. However, we are not free to decide this
question on principles of theory only. Our people are decided
in the opinion, that it is necessary for us to take a share in the oc-
cupation of the ocean, and their established habits induce them to
require that the sea be kept open to them, and that that line of
policy be pursued, which will render the use of that element to
them as great as possible. I think it a duty in those entrusted
with the administration of their affairs, to conform themselves to
the decided choice of their constituents ; and that therefore, we
should, in every instance, preserve an equality of right to them
in the transportation of commodities, in the right of fishing, and
in the other uses of the sea.
But what will be the consequence ? Frequent wars without a
doubt. Their property will be violated on the sea, and in foreign
ports, their persons will be insulted, imprisoned, &c., for pretended
debts, contracts, crimes, contraband, &c., &c. These insults
must be resented, even if we had no feelings, yet to prevent their
eternal repetition; or, in other words, our commerce on the
ocean and in other countries, must be paid for by frequent war.
The justest dispositions possible in ourselves, will not secure us
against it. It would be necessary that all other nations were
just also. Justice indeed, on our part, will save us from those
wars which would have been produced by a contrary disposition.
But how can we prevent those produced by the wrongs of other
nations ? By putting ourselves in a condition to punish them.
Weakness provokes insult and injury, while a condition to punish,
often prevents them. This reasoning leads to the necessity of
some naval force ; that being the only weapon by which we can
CORRESPONDENCE. 405
reach an enemy. I think it to our interest to punish the first in-
sult ; because an insult unpunished is the parent of many others.
We are not, at this moment, in a condition to do it, hut we
should put ourselves into it, as soon as possible. If a war with
England should take place, it seems to me that the first thing
necessary would be a resolution to abandon the carrying trade,
because we cannot protect it. Foreign nations must, in that
case, be invited to bring us what we want, and to take our pro-
ductions in their own bottoms. This alone could prevent the
loss of those productions to us, and the acquisition of them to
our enemy. Our seamen might be employed in depredations on
their trade. But how dreadfully we shall suffer on our coasts,
if we have no force on the water, former experience has taught
us. Indeed, I look forward with horror to the very possible case
of war with an European power, and think there is no protection
against them, but from the possession of some force on the sea.
Our vicinity to their West India possessions, and to the fisheries,
is a bridle which a small naval force, on our part, would hold in
the mouths of the most powerful of these countries. I hope
our land office will rid us of our debts, and that our first atten-
tion then, will be, to the beginning a naval force of some sort.
This alone can countenance our people as carriers on the water,
and I suppose them to be determined to continue such.
I wrote you two public letters on the 14th instant, since which
I have received yours of July the 13th. I shall always be
pleased to receive from you, in a private way, such communica-
tions as you might not choose to put into a public letter.
I have the honor to be, with very sincere esteem, dear Sir,
your most obedient humble servant.
TO COLONEL MONROE.
PARIS August 28, 1785.
DEAR SIR, I wrote you on the 5th of July, by Mr. Franklin,
and on the 12th of the same month, by Monsieur Houdon.
406 JEFFEKSON'S WORKS.
Since that date, yours of June the 16th, by Mazzei, has been
received. Everything looks like peace here. The settlement
between the Emperor and the Dutch is not yet published, but it
is believed to be agreed on. Nothing is done, as yet, between
him and the Porte. He is much wounded by the confederation
of several of the Germanic body, at the head of which is the
King of Prussia, and to which the King of England, as Elector
of Hanover, is believed to accede. The object is to preserve the
constitution of that empire. It shows that these princes enter-
tain serious jealousies of the ambition of the Emperor, and this
will very much endanger the election of his nephew as King of
the Romans. A late Arret of this court against the admission
of British manufactures produces a great sensation in England.
I wish it may produce a disposition there to receive our com-
merce in all their dominions, on advantageous terms. This is
the only balm which can heal the wounds that it has received.
It is but too true, that that country furnished markets for three-
fourths of the exports of the eight northern-most States. A
truth not proper to be spoken of, but which should influence our
proceedings with them.
The July French packet having arrived without bringing any
news of Mr. Lambe, if the English one of the same month be
also arrived, without news of him, I expect Mr. Adams will con-
cur with me in sending some other person to treat with the Bar-
bary States. Mr. Barclay is willing to go, and I have proposed
him to Mr. Adams, but have not yet received his answer. The
peace expected between Spain and Algiers, will probably not
take place. It is said, the former was to have given a million
of dollars. Would it not be prudent to send a minister to Portu-
gal ? Our commerce with that country is very important ; per-
haps more so than with any other country in Europe. It is pos-
sible, too, that they might permit our whaling vessels to refresh
in Brazil, or give some other indulgences in America. The
lethargic character of their ambassador here gives a very un-
hopeful aspect to a treaty on this ground. I lately spoke with
CORRESPONDENCE. 407
him on the subject, and he has promised to interest himself in
obtaining an answer from his court.
I have waited to see what was the pleasure of Congress, as to
the secretaryship of my office here ; that is, to see whether they
proposed to appoint a secretary of legation, or leave me to ap-
point a private secretary. Colonel Humphreys' occupation in
the despatches and records of the matters which relate to the
general commissions, does not afford him leisure to aid me in my
office, were I entitled to ask that aid. In the meantime, the
long papcrs,which often accompany the communications between
the ministers here, and myself, and the other business of the
office, absolutely require a scribe. I shall, therefore, on Mr.
Short's return from the Hague, appoint him my private secretary,
till Congress shall think proper to signify their pleasure. The
salary allowed Mr. Franklin in the same office, was one thousand
dollars a year. I shall presume that Mr. Short may draw the
same allowance from the funds of the United States here. As
soon as I shall have made this appointment, I shall give official
notice of it to Mr. Jay, that Congress may, if they disapprove it,
say so.
I am much pleased with your land ordinance, and think it im-
proved from the first, in the most material circumstances. I had
mistaken the object of the division of the lands among the States.
I am sanguine in my expectations of lessening our debts by this
fund, and have expressed my expectations to the minister and
others here. I see by the public papers, you have adopted the
dollar as your money unit. In the arrangement of coins I pro-
posed, I ought to have inserted a gold coin of five dollars, which,
being within two shillings of the value of a guinea, would be
very convenient.
The English papers are so incessantly repeating their lies about
the tumults, the anarchy, the bankruptcies and distresses of Ame-
rica, that these ideas prevail very generally in Europe. At a large
table where I dined the other day, a gentleman from Switzerland
expressed his apprehensions for the fate of Dr. Franklin, as he
said he had been informed, that he would be received with stones
408 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
by the people, who were generally dissatisfied with the Revolu-
tion, and incensed against all those who had assisted in bringing
it about. I told him his apprehensions were just, and that the
people of America would probably salute Dr. Franklin with the
same stones they had thrown at the Marquis Fayette. The re-
ception of the Doctor is an object of very general attention, and
will weigh in Europe, as an evidence of the satisfaction or dis-
satisfaction of America, with their Revolution. As you are to
be in Williamsburg early in November, this is the last letter I
shall write you till about that time.
I am, with very sincere esteem, dear Sir, your friend and
servant.
TO JOHN JAY.
PARIS, August 30, 1785.
SIR, I had the honor of writing to you on the 14th instant,
by a Mr. Cannon of Connecticut, who was to sail in the packet.
Since that date, yours of July 13th has come to hand. The
times for the sailing of the packets being somewhat deranged, I
avail myself of a conveyance for the present, by the Mr. Fitz-
hughs of Virginia, who expect to land at Philadelphia.
I enclose you a correspondence which has taken place between
the Marechal de Castries, minister of the Marine, and myself. It
is on the subject of the prize money due to the officers and crew
of the Alliance, for prizes taken in Europe, under the command
of Captain Jones. That officer has been here, under the direc-
tion of Congress, near two years, soliciting the liquidation and
payment of that money. Infinite delays had retarded the liqui-
dation till the month of June. It was expected, when the liqui-
dation was announced to be completed, that the money was to be
received. The M. de Castries doubted the authority of Captain
Jones to receive it, and wrote to me for information. I wrote
him the leter dated July the 10th, which seemed to clear away
CORRESPONDENCE. 409
that difficulty. Another arose. A Mr. Puchilberg presented
powers to receive the money. I wrote, then, the letter of August
the 3d, and received that of the M. de Castries, of August the
12th, acknowledging he was satisfied as to this difficulty, but an-
nouncing another ; to wit ? that possibly some French subjects
might have been on board the Alliance, and, therefore, that Cap-
tain Jones ought to give security for the repayment of their por-
tions. Captain Jones had before told me there was not a French-
man on board that vessel, but the Captain. I inquired of Mr.
Barclay. He told me he was satisfied there was not one. Here
then, was a mere possibility, a shadow of a right, opposed to a
certain, to a substantial one which existed in the mass of the
crew, and which was likely to be delayed ; for it was not to be
expected that Captain Jones could, in a strange country, find the
security required. These difficulties I suppose to have been con-
jured up, one after another, by Mr. Puchilberg, who wanted to
get hold of the money. I saw but one way to cut short these
everlasting delays, which were ruining the officer soliciting the
payment of the money, and keeping our seamen out of what
they had hardly fought for, years ago. This was, to undertake
to ask an order from Congress, for the payment of any French
claimants by their banker in Paris ; and, in the meantime, to un-
dertake to order such payment, should any such claimant prove
his title, before the pleasure of Congress should be made known
to me. I consulted with Mr. Barclay, who seemed satisfied I
might venture this undertaking, because no such claim could be
presented. I therefore wrote the letter of August the 17th, and
received that of August the 26th, finally closing this tedious
business. Should what I have done not meet the approbation
of Congress, I would pray their immediate sense, because it is
not probable that the whole of this money will be paid so hastily,
but that their orders may arrive in time, to stop a sufficiency for
any French claimants who may possibly exist. The following
paragraph of a letter from Captain Jones, dated L'Orient, August
the 25th, 1785, further satisfies me that my undertaking amounted
to nothing in fact. He says, " it is impossible that any legal de-
410 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
mands should be made on you for French subjects, in consequence
of your engagement to the Marechal. The Alliance was manned
in America, and I never heard of any persons having served on
board that frigate, who had been born in France, except the cap-
tain, who, as I was informed, had, in America, abjured the church
of Rome, and been naturalized." Should Congress approve
what I have done, I will then ask their resolution for the pay-
ment, by their banker here, of any such claims as may be prop-
erly authenticated, and will moreover pray of you an authentic
roll of the crew of the Alliance, with the sums to be allowed to
each person ; on the subject of which roll, Captain Jones, in the
letter above mentioned, says, " I carried a set of the rolls with
me to America, and, before I embarked in the French fleet at
Boston, I put them into the hands of Mr. Secretary Livingston,
and they were sealed up among the papers of his office when I
left America." I think it possible that Mr. Puchilberg may excite
claims. Should any name be offered which shall not be found on
the roll, it will be a sufficient disproof of the pretension. Should
it be found on the roll, it will remain to prove the identity of
person, and to inquire if payment may not have been made in
America. I conjecture, from the journals of Congress of June
2d, that Landais, who, I believe, was the captain, may be in
America. As his portion of the prize may be considerable, I
hope it will be settled in America, where only it can be known
whether any advances have been made him.
The person at the head of the post office here says, he pro-
posed to Dr. Franklin a convention to facilitate the passage of
letters through their office and ours, and that he delivered a draught
of the convention proposed, that it might be sent to Congress. I
think it possible he may be mistaken in this, as, on my mention-
ing it to Dr. Franklin, he did not recollect any such draught
having been put into his hands. An answer, however, is expected
by them. I mention it, that Congress may decide whether they
will make any convention on the subject, and on what principle.
The one proposed here was, that, for letters passing hence into
America, the French postage should be collected by our post
CORRESPONDENCE. 411
officers, and paid every six months, and for letters coming from
America here, the American postage should be collected by the
post officers here, and paid to us in like manner. A second plan,
however, presents itself ; that is, to suppose the sums to be thus
collected, on each side, will be equal, or so nearly equal, that the
balance will not pay for the trouble of keeping accounts, and for
the little bickerings that the settlement of accounts, and demands
of the balances, may occasion ; and therefore, to make an ex-
change of postage. This would better secure our harmony ; but
I do not know that it would be agreed to here. If not, the other
might then be agreed to.
I have waited hitherto, supposing that Congress might, possi-
bly, appoint a secretary to the legation here, or signify their
pleasure that I should appoint a private secretary, to aid me in
my office. The communication between the ministers and my-
self, requiring often that many and long papers should be copied,
and that, in a shorter time than could be done by myself, were I
otherwise unoccupied, other correspondences and proceedings, of
all which copies must be retained, and still more the necessity of
having some confidential person, who, in case of any accident to
myself, might be authorized to take possession of the instructions,
letters, and other papers of the office, have rendered it absolutely
necessary for me to appoint a private secretary. Colonel Hum-
phreys finds full occupation, and often more than he can do, in
writing and recording the despatches and proceedings of the gen-
eral commissions. I shall, therefore, appoint Mr. Short, on his re-
turn from the Hague, with an express condition, that the appoint-
ment shall cease whenever Congress shall think proper to make
any other arrangement. He will, of course, expect the allow-
ance heretofore made to the private secretaries of the ministers,
which, I believe, has been a thousand dollars a year.
[An improvement is made here in the construction of muskets,
which it may be interesting to Congress to know, should they at
any time propose to procure any. It consists in the making every
part of them so exactly alike, that what belongs to any one, may
be used for every other musket in the magazine. The govern-
412 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
merit here has examined and approved the method, and is estab-
lishing a large manufactory for the purpose of putting it into exe-
cution. As yet, the inventor has only completed the lock of the
musket, on this plan. He will proceed immediately to have the
barrel, stock, and other parts, executed in the same way. Sup-
posing it might be useful in the United States, I went to the
workman. He presented me the parts of fifty locks taken to
pieces, and arranged in compartments. I put several together
myself, taking pieces at hazard as they came to hand, and they
fitted in the most perfect manner. The advantages of this, when
arms need repair, are evident. He effects it by tools of his own
contrivance, which, at the same time, abridge the work, so that he
thinks he shall be able to furnish the musket two livres cheaper than
the common price. But it will be two or three years before he will
be able to furnish any quantity. I mention it now, as it may have
an influence on the plan for furnishing our magazines with this anrTJ
Everything in Europe remains as when I wrote you last. The
peace between Spain and Algiers has the appearance of being
broken off. The French packet having arrived without Mr.
Lambe. or any news of him, I await Mr. Adams's acceding to the
proposition mentioned in my last. I send you the gazettes of
Leyden and France to this date, and have the honor to be, with
the highest respect and esteem, Sir,
Your most obedient humble servant.
TO JAMES MADISON.
PARIS, September 1, 1785.
DEAR SIR, My last to you by Monsieur de Doradour was
dated May the llth. Since that, I have received yours of Janu-
ary the 22d, with six copies of the revisal, and that of April the
27th, by Mr. Mazzei.
All is quiet here. The Emperor and Dutch have certainly
agreed, though they have not published their agreement. Most
of his schemes in Germany must be postponed, if they are not
CORRESPONDENCE. 413
prevented by the confederacy of many of the Germanic body,
at the head of which is the King of Prussia, and to which the
Elector of Hanover is supposed to have acceded. The object
of the league is to preserve the members of the empire in their
present state. I doubt whether the jealousy entertained of this
prince, and which is so fully evidenced by this league, may not
defeat the election of his nephew to be King of the Romans,
and thus produce an instance of breaking the lineal succession.
Nothing is as yet done between him and the Turks. If any-
thing is produced in that quarter, it will not be for this year.
The court of Madrid has obtained the delivery of the crew of
the brig Betsey, taken by the Emperor of Morocco. The Em-
peror had treated them kindly, new clothed them, and delivered
them to the Spanish minister, who sent them to Cadiz. This is
the only American vessel ever taken by the Barbary States.
The Emperor continues to give proofs of his desire to be in
friendship with us, or, in other words, of receiving us into the
number of his tributaries. Nothing further need be feared from
him. I wish the Algerines may be as easily dealt with. I fancy
the peace expected between them and Spain is not likely to take
place. I am well informed that the late proceedings in America,
have produced a wonderful sensation in England in our favor.
I mean the disposition which seems to be becoming general, to
invest Congress with the regulation of our commerce, and, in the
meantime, the measures taken to defeat the avidity of the British
government grasping at our carrying business. I can add with
truth, that it was not till these symptoms appeared in America
that I have been able to discover the smallest token of respect
towards the United States in any part of Europe. There was
an enthusiasm towards us all over Europe at the moment of the
peace. The torrent of lies published unremittingly in every
day's London paper first made an impression and produced a
coolness. The republication of these lies in most of the papers
of Europe, (done probably by authority of the governments to
discourage emigrations,) carried them home to the belief of every
mind. They supposed everything in America was anarchy, tu-
414 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
mult, and civil war. The reception of the Marquis Fayette gave
a check to these ideas. The late proceedings seem to be pro-
ducing a decisive vibration in our favor. I think it possible that
England may ply before them. It is a nation which nothing
but views of interest can govern. If they produce us good
there, they will here also. The defeat of the Irish propositions
is also in our favor.
I have at length made up the purchase of books for you as far
as it can be done at present. The objects which I have not yet
been able to get I shall continue to seek for. Those purchased
are packed this morning in two trunks, and you have the cata-
logue and prices herein enclosed. The future charges of trans-
portation shall be carried into the next bill. The amount of the
present is 1154 livres 13 sous, which, reckoning the French
crown of six livres at six shillings and eight pence Virginia
money, is 64, 3s., which sum you will be so good as to keep in
your hands, to be used occasionally in the education of my
nephews when the regular resources disappoint you. To the
same use I would pray you to apply twenty-rive guineas which
I have lent the two Mr. Fitzhughs of Marmion, and which I
have desired them to repay into your hands. You will of course
deduct the price of the revisals, and of any other articles you
may have been so kind as to pay for me. Greek and Roman
authors are dearer here than I believe anywhere in the world.
Nobody here reads them, wherefore they are not reprinted. Don
Ulloa, in the original, is not to be found. The collection of
tracts on the economies of different nations we cannot find, nor
Amelot's travels into China. I shall send these two trunks of
books to Havre, there to wait a conveyance to America ; for as
to the fixing the packets there, it is as uncertain as ever. The
other articles you mention shall be procured as far as they can
be. Knowing that some of them would be better got in Lon-
don, I commissioned Mr. Short, who was going there, to get
them. He has not yet returned. They will be of such a nature
as that I can get some gentleman who may be going to America
to take them in his portmanteau. Le Maire being now able to
CORRESPONDENCE. 415
stand on his legs, there will be no necessity for your advanc-
ing him the money I desired, if it is not already done. I am
anxious to hear from you on the subject of my Notes on Vir-
ginia. I have been obliged to give so many of them here that
I fear their getting published. I have received an application
from the Directors of the public buildings, to procure them a plan
for their capitol. I shall send them one taken from the best mor-
sel of ancient architecture now remaining. It has obtained the
approbation of fifteen or sixteen centuries, and is therefore pre-
ferable to any design which might be newly contrived. It will
give more room, be more convenient, and cost less, than the plan
they sent me. Pray encourage them to wait for it, and to exe-
cute it. It will be superior in beauty to anything in America,
and not inferior to anything in the world. It is very simple.
Have you a copying press ? If you have not, you should get
one. Mine (exclusive of paper, which costs a guinea a ream)
has cost me about fourteen guineas. I would give ten times that
sum to have had it from the date of the stamp act. I hope you
will be so good as to continue your communications, both of the
great and small kind, which are equally useful to me. Be as-
sured of the sincerity with which I am, dear Sir,
Your friend and servant.
TO MESSRS. DUMAS AND SHORT.
PARTS, September 1, 1785.
GENTLEMEN, I have been duly honored with the receipt of
your separate letters of August 23d, and should sooner have re-
turned an answer ; but that as you had written also to Mr. Adams,
I thought it possible I might receive his sentiments on the subject
in time for the post. Not thinking it proper to lose the occasion
of the post, I have concluded to communicate to you my sepa-
rate sentiments, which you will of course pay attention to only
so far as they may concur with what you shall receive from Mr.
Adams.
416 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
On a review of our letters to the Baron de Thulemeyer, I do
not find that we had proposed that the treaty should be in two
columns, the one English, and the other what he should think
proper. We certainly intended to have proposed it. We had
agreed together that it should be an article of system with us,
and the omission of it in this instance has been accidental. My
own opinion, therefore, is, that to avoid the appearance of urging
new propositions when everything appeared to be arranged, we
should agree to consider the French column as the original, if
the Baron de Thulemeyer thinks himself bound to insist on it ;
but, if the practice of his court will admit of the execution in
the two languages, each to be considered as equally original, it
would be very pleasing to me, as it will accommodate it to our
views, relieve us from the embarrassment of this precedent,
which may be urged against us on other occasions, and be more
agreeable to our country, where the French language is spoken
by very few. This method will also be attended with the ad-
vantage, that if any expression in any part of the treaty is
equivocal in the one language, its true sense will be known by
the corresponding passage in the other.
The errors of the copyist in the French column you will cor-
rect of course.
I have the honor to be, with very high esteem, Gentlemen,
your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO JOHN ADAMS.
PARIS, September 4, 1785.
DEAR SIR, On receipt of your favors of August the 18th and
23d, I conferred with Mr. Barclay on the measures necessary to
be taken, to set our treaty with the piratical States into motion,
through his agency. Supposing that we should begin with the
Emperor of Morocco, a letter to the Emperor and instructions to
Mr. Barclay, seemed necessary. I have therefore sketched such
CORRESPONDENCE. 417
outlines for these, as appear to me to be proper. You will be so
good as to detract, add to, or alter them as you please, to return
such as you approve under your signature, to which I will add
mine. A person understanding English, French, and Italian,
and at the same time meriting confidence, was not to be met with
here. Colonel Franks, understanding the two first languages
perfectly, and a little Spanish instead of Italian, occurred to Mr.
Barclay as the fittest person he could employ for a secretary.
We think his allowance (exclusive of his travelling expenses and
his board, which will be paid by Mr. Barclay in common with
his own) should be between one hundred, and one hundred and
fifty guineas a year. Fix it where you please, between these
limits. What is said in the instructions to Mr. Barclay as to his
own allowance, was proposed by himself. My idea as to the
partition of the whole sum to which we are limited (eighty thou-
sand dollars), was, that one half of it should be kept in reserve
for the Algerines. They certainly possess more than half of the
whole power of the piratical States. I thought then, that Mo-
rocco might claim the half of the remainder, that is to say, one-
fourth of the whole. For this reason, in the instructions, I pro-
pose twenty thousand dollars as the limit of the expenses of the
Morocco treaty. Be so good as to think of it, and make it what
you please. I should be more disposed to enlarge than abridge
it, on account of their neighborhood to our Atlantic trade. I
did not think that these papers should be trusted through the
post 'office, and, therefore, as Colonel Franks is engaged in the
business, he comes with them. Passing by the diligence, the
whole expense will not exceed twelve or fourteen guineas. I
suppose we are bound to avail ourselves of the co-operation of
France. I will join you, therefore, in any letter you think pro-
per to write to the Count de Vergennes. Would you think it
expedient to write to Mr. Carmichael, to interest the interposition
of the Spanish court ? I will join you in anything of this kind
you will originate. In short, be so good as to supply whatever
you may think necessary. With respect to the money, Mr. Jay's
information to you was, that it was to be drawn from Holland.
VOL. i. 27
JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
It wi ' rest, therefore, with you, to avail Mr. Barclay of that fund,
either by your draft, or by a letter of credit to the bankers in
his favor, to the necessary amount. I imagine the Dutch con-
sul at Morocco may be rendered an useful character, in the re-
mittances of money to Mr. Barclay while at Morocco.
You were apprised, by a letter from Mr. Short, of the delay
which had arisen in the execution of the treaty with Prussia. I
wrote a separate letter, of which I enclose you a copy, hoping it
would meet one from you, and set them again into motion.
I have the honor to be, with the highest respect, dear Sir, your
most obedient, and most humble servant.
[The following are the sketches of the letter to the Emperor
of Morocco, and of the instructions to Mr. Barclay, referred to in
the preceding letter.]
HEADS FOR A LETTER TO THE EMPEROR OF MOROCCO.
That the United States of America, heretofore connected m
government with Great Britain, had found it necessary for their
happiness to separate from her, and to assume an independent
station.
That, consisting of a number of separate States, they had
confederated together, and placed the sovereignty of the whole,
in matters relating to foreign nations, in a body consisting of
delegates from every State, and called the Congress of the
United States.
That Great Britain had solemnly confirmed their separation,
and acknowledged their independence.
That after the conclusion of the peace, which terminated the
war in which they had been engaged for the establishment of
their independence, the first attentions of Congress were neces-
sarily engrossed by the re-establishment of order and regular gov-
ernment.
That they had, as soon as possible, turned their attention to
foreign nations, and, desirous of entering into amity and com-
CORRESPONDENCE. 419
merce with them, had been pleased to appoint us with Dr. Ben-
jamin Franklin, to execute such treaties for this purpose, as
should be agreed on by such nations, with us, or any two of us.
That Dr. Franklin having found it necessary to return to
America, the execution of these several commissions had de-
volved on us.
That being placed as Ministers Plenipotentiary for the United
States at the courts of England and France ; this circumstance,
with the commissions with which we are charged for entering
into treaties with various other nations, puts it out of our power
to attend at the other courts in person, and obliges us to nego-
tiate by the intervention of confidential persons.
That, respecting the friendly dispositions shown by his Ma-
jesty, the Emperor of Morocco, towards the United States, and
indulging the desire of forming a connection with a sovereign
so renowned for his power, his wisdom, and his justice, we had
embraced the first moment possible, of assuring him of these, the
sentiments of our country and of ourselves, and of expressing to
him our wishes to enter into a connection of friendship and
commerce with him.
That for this purpose, we had commissioned the bearer hereof,
Thomas Barclay, a person in the highest confidence of the Con-
gress of the United States, and as such, having been several
years, and still being their consul general with our great and
good friend and ally, the King of France, to arrange with his
Majesty the Emperor those conditions Which it might be advan-
tageous for both nations to adopt, for the regulation of their
commerce, and their mutual conduct towards each other.
That we deliver to him a copy of the full powers with which
we are invested, to conclude a treaty with his Majesty, which
copy he is instructed to present to his Majesty.
That though by these, we are not authorized to delegate to
him the power of ultimately signing the treaty, yet such is our
reliance on his wisdom, his integrity, and his attention to the in-
structions with which he is charged, that we assure his Majesty,
the conditions which he shall arrange and send to us, shall be
420 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
returned with our signature, in order to receive that of the per-
son whom his Majesty shall commission for the same purpose.
HEADS OF INSTRUCTIONS TO MR. BARCLAY.
Congress having heen pleased to invest us with full powers
for entering into a treaty of amity and alliance with the Empe-
ror of Morocco, and it being impracticable for us to attend his
court in person, and equally impracticable, on account of our
separate stations, to receive a minister from him, we have con-
cluded to effect our object by the intervention of a confidential
person. We concur in wishing to avail the United States of
your talents in the execution of this business, and therefore fur-
nish you with a letter to the Emperor of Morocco, to give due
credit to your transactions with him.
We advise you to proceed by the way of Madrid, where you
will have opportunities of deriving many lights from Mr. Carmi-
chael, through whom many communications with the court of
Morocco have already passed.
From thence, you will proceed, by such route as you shall
think best, to the court of the Emperor.
You will present to him our letter, with the copy of our full
powers, with which you are furnished, at such time or times, and
in such manner, as you shall find best.
You will proceed to negotiate, with his minister, the terms of
a treaty of amity and commerce, as nearly conformed as possible
to the draught we give you. Where alterations, which, in your
opinion, shall not be of great importance, shall be urged by the
other party, you are at liberty to agree to them. Where they
shall be of great importance, and such as you think should be
rejected, you will reject them ; but where they are of great im-
portance, and you think they may be accepted, you will ask
time to take our advice, and will advise with us accordingly, by
letter or by courier, as you shall think best. When the articles
shall all be agreed, you will send them to us by some proper per-
son, for our signature.
The whole expense of this treaty, including as well the ex-
CORRESPONDENCE. 421
penses of all persons employed about it, as the presents to the
Emperor and his servants must not exceed twenty thousand dol-
lars ; and we urge you to use your best endeavors to bring it as
much below that sum as you possibly can. As custom may have
rendered some presents necessary in the beginning or progress of
this business, and before it is concluded, or even in a way to be
concluded, we authorize you to conform to the custom, confiding
in your discretion to hazard as little as possible, before a certainty
of the event. We trust to you also to procure the best informa-
tion, as to what persons, and in what form, these presents should
be made, and to make them accordingly.
The difference between the customs of that and other courts,
the difficulty of obtaining a knowledge of those customs, but on
the spot, and our great confidence in your discretion, induce us
to leave to that all other circumstances relative to the object of
your mission. It will be necessary for you to take a secretary,
well skilled in the French language, to aid you in your business,
and to take charge of your papers in case of any accident to
yourself. We think you may allow him guineas a year,
besides his expenses for travelling and subsistence. We engage
to furnish your own expenses, according to the respectability of
the character with which you are invested ; but, as to the allow-
ance for your trouble, we wish to leave it to Congress. We an-
nex hereto sundry heads of inquiry which we wish you to make,
and to give us thereon the best information you shall be able to
obtain. We desire you to correspond with us by every oppor-
tunity which you think should be trusted, giving us, from time
to time, an account of your proceedings and prospects.
HEADS OF INQUIRY FOR MR. BARCLAY, AS TO MOROCCO.
1. Commerce. What are the articles of their export and im-
port ? What duties are levied by them on exports and imports ?
Do all nations pay the same, or what nations are favored, and
how far ? Are they their own carriers, or who carries for them ?
Do they trade themselves to other countries, or are they merely
passive ?
422 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
2. Ports. What are their principal ports ? What depth of
water in them ? What works of defence protect these ports ?
3. Naval force. How many armed vessels have they ? Of
what kind and force ? What is the constitution of their naval
force ? What resources for increasing their navy ? What num-
ber of seamen ? Their cruising grounds, and seasons of cruising ?
4. Prisoners. What is their condition and treatment ? At what
price are they ordinarily redeemed, and how ?
Do they pay respect to the treaties they make ?
Land forces. Their numbers, constitution and respectability "
Revenues. Their amount.
Coins. What coins pass there, and at what rates ?
TO DAVID HARTLEY.
PARIS, September 5, 1785.
DEAR SIR, Your favor of April the 15th. happened to be put
into my hands at the same time with a large parcel of letters
from America, which contained a variety of intelligence. It was
then put where I usually place my unanswered letters ; and I,
from time to time, put off acknowledging the receipt of it, till I
should be able to furnish you American intelligence worth com-
municating. A favorable opportunity, by a courier, of writing to
you, occurring this morning, what has been my astonishment and
chagrin, on reading your letter again, to find there was a case in
it which required an immediate answer, but which, by the variety
of matters which happened to be presented to my mind, at the
same time, had utterly escaped my recollection. I pray you to
be assured, that nothing but this slip of memory would have pre-
vented my immediate answer, and no other circumstance would
have prevented its making such an impression on my mind, as
that it could not have escaped. I hope you will, therefore, oblit-
erate the imputation of want of respect, which, under actual ap-
pearances, must have arisen in your mind, but which would refer
to an untrue cause the occasion of my silence. I am not sum-
CORRESPONDENCE. 423
ciently acquainted with the proceedings of the New York As-
sembly, to say, with certainty, in what predicament the lands of
Mr. Upton may stand. But on conferring with Colonel Hum-
phreys, who, being from the neighboring State, was more in the
way of knowing what passed in New York, he thinks that the
descriptions in their confiscation laws were such as not to include
a case of this nature. The first, thing to be done by Mr. Upton,
is, to state his case to some intelligent lawyer of the country, that
he may know with certainty whether they be confiscated or not ;
and if not confiscated, to know what measures are necessary for
completing and securing his grant. But if confiscated, there is, then,
no other tribunal of redress but their General Assembly. If he is
unacquainted there, I would advise him to apply to Colonel Ham-
ilton (who was aid to General Washington), and is now very
eminent at the bar, and much to be relied on. Your letter in
his favor to Mr. Jay will also procure him the benefit of his
council.
With respect to America, I will rather give you a general view
of its situation, than merely relate recent events. The impost is
still unpassed by the two States of New York and Rhode Is-
land ; for the manner in which the latter has passed it does not
appear to me to answer the principal object of establishing a
fund, which, by being subject to Congress alone, may give such
credit to the certificates of public debt, as will make them nego-
tiable. This matter, then, is still suspended.
Congress have lately purchased the Indian right to nearly the
whols of the land lying in the new State, bounded by lake Erie,
Pennsylvania, and the Ohio. The northwestern corner alone is
reserved to the Delawares and Wiandots. I expect a purchase is
also concluded with other tribes, for a considerable proportion of
the State next to this, on the north side of the Ohio. They have
passed an ordinance establishing a land office,, considerably im-
proved, I think, on the plan of which I had the honor of giving
you a copy. The lands are to be offered for sale to the highest
bidder. For this purpose, portions of them are to be proposed in
each State, that each may have the means of purchase carried
424 JEFFERSON'S WOEKS.
equally to their doors, and that the purchasers may be a proper
mixture of the citizens from all the different States. But such
lots as cannot be sold for a dollar an acre, are not to be parted
with. They will receive as money the certificates of public
debt. I flatter myself that this arrangement will very soon ab-
sorb the whole of these certificates, and thus rid us of our do-
mestic debt, which is four-fifths of our whole debt. Our foreign
debt will then be a bagatelle.
I think it probable that Vermont will be made independent, as
I am told the State of New York is likely to agree to it. Maine
will probably, in time, be also permitted to separate from Massa-
chusetts. As yet, they only begin to think of it. Whenever the
people of Kentucky shall have agreed among themselves, my
friends write me word, that Virginia will consent to their separa-
tion. They will constitute the new State on the south side of
Ohio, joining Virginia. North Carolina, by an act of their As-
sembly, ceded to Congress all their lands westward of the Alle-
ghany. The people inhabiting that territory, thereon declared
themselves independent, called their State by the name of Franklin,
and solicited Congress to be received into the Union. But before
Congress met, North Carolina (for what reasons I could never
learn) resumed their cession. The people, however, persist ;
Congress recommended to the State to desist from their opposi-
tion, and I have no doubt they will do it. It will, therefore, re-
sult from the act of Congress laying off the western country into
new States, that these States will come into the Union in the
manner therein provided, and without any disputes as to their
boundaries.
I am told that some hostile transaction by our people at the
Natchez, against the Spaniards, has taken place. If it be fact,
Congress will certainly not protect them, but leave them to be
chastised by the Spaniards, saving the right to the territory. A
Spanish minister being now with Congress, and both parties in-
terested in keeping the peace, I think, if such an event has hap-
pened, it will be easily arranged.
I told you, when here, of the propositions made by Congress to
CORRESPONDENCE. 425
the States, to be authorized to make certain regulations in their
commerce ; and that, from the disposition to strengthen the hands
of Congress, which was then growing fast, I thought they would
consent to it. Most of them did so, and I suppose all of them
would have done it, if they have not actually done it, but that
events proved a much more extensive power would be requisite.
Congress have, therefore, desired to be invested with the whole
regulation of their trade, and forever ; and to prevent all tempta-
tions to abuse the power, and all fears of it, they propose that
whatever moneys shall be levied on commerce, either for the pur-
pose of revenue, or by way of forfeiture^ or penalty, shall go di-
rectly into the coffers of the State wherein it is levied, without be-
ing touched by Congress. From the present temper of the States,
and the conviction which your country has carried home to their
minds, that there is no other method of defeating the greedy at-
tempts of other countries to trade with them on equal terms, I
think they will add an article for this purpose to their Confedera-
tion. But the present powers of Congress over the commerce
of the States, under the Confederation, seem not at all understood
by your ministry. They say that body has no power to enter
into a treaty of commerce ; why then make one ? This is a mis-
take. By the sixth article of the Confederation, the States re-
nounce, individually, all power to make any treaty, of whatever
nature, with a foreign nation. By the ninth article, they give the
power of making treaties wholly to Congress, with two reserva-
tions only. 1. That no treaty of commerce shall be made, which
shall restrain the legislature from making foreigners pay the same
imposts with their own people : nor 2d, from prohibiting the ex-
portation or importation of any species of merchandise, which they
might think proper. Were any treaty to be made which should
violate either of these two reservations, it would be so far void.
In the treaties, therefore, made with France, Holland, &c., this
has been cautiously avoided. But are these treaties of no advan-
tage to these nations ? Besides the advantages expressly given by
them, there results another, of great value. The commerce of
those nations with the United States, is thereby under the pro-
426 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
tection of Congress, and no particular State, acting by fits and
starts, can harass the trade of France, Holland, &c., by such meas-
ures as several of them have practiced against England, by load-
ing her merchandsie with partial impost, refusing admittance to
it altogether, excluding her merchants, &c., &c. For you will
observe, that though by the second reservation before mentioned,
they can prohibit the importation of any species of merchandise, as
for instance, though they may prohibit the importation of wines in
general, yet they cannot prohibit that of French wines in par-
ticular. Another advantage is, that the nations having treaties
with Congress, can and do provide in such treaties for the admis-
sion of their consuls, a kind of officer very necessary for the reg-
ulation and protection of commerce. You know that a consul
is the creature of treaty. No nation without an agreement, can
place an officer in another country, with any powers or jurisdic-
tion whatever. But as the States have renounced the separate
power of making treaties with foreign nations, they cannot sep-
arately receive a consul ; and as Congress have, by the Confeder-
ation, no immediate jurisdiction over commerce, as they have
only a power of bringing that jurisdiction into existence by en-
tering into a treaty, till such treaty be entered into, Congress them-
selves cannot receive a consul. Till a treaty then, there exists
no power in any part of our government, federal or particular, to
admit a consul among us ; and if it be true, as the papers say,
that you have lately sent one over, he cannot be admitted by any
power in existence, to an exercise of any function. Nothing
less than a new article, to be agreed to by all the States, would
enable Congress, or the particular States, to receive him. You
must not be surprised then, if he be not received.
I think I have by this time tired you with American politics,
and will therefore only add assurances of the sincere regard and
esteem, with which I have the honor to be, dear Sir, your most
obedient humble servant.
COKKESPONDENCE. 427
TO BARON GEISMER.
PARIS, September 6, 1785.
DEAR SIR, Your letter of March the 28th, which I received
about a month after its date, gave me a very real pleasure, as it
assured me of an existence which I valued, and of which I had
been led to doubt. You are now too distant from America, to be
much interested in what passes there. From the London gazettes,
and the papers copying them, you are led to suppose that all there
is anarchy, discontent and civil war. Nothing, however, is less
true. There are not, on the face of the earth, more tranquil gov-
ernments than ours, nor a happier and more contented people.
Their commerce has not as yet found the channels, which their
new relations with the world will offer to best advantage, and the
old ones remain as yet unopened by new conventions. This oc-
casions a stagnation in the sale of their produce, the only truth
among all the circumstances published about them. Their hatred
against Great Britain, having lately received from that nation new
cause and new aliment, has taken a new spring. Among the in-
dividuals of your acquaintance, nothing remarkable has happened.
No revolution in the happiness of any of them has taken place,
except that of the loss of their only child. to Mr. and Mrs. Walker,
who, however, left them a grand-child for their solace, and that
of your humble servant, who remains with no other family than
two daughters, the elder here (who was of your acquaintance),
the younger in Virginia, but expected here the next summer.
The character in which I am here at present, confines me to this
place, and will confine me as long as I continue in Europe. How
long this will be, I cannot tell. I am now of an age which does
not easily accommodate itself to new manners and new modes
of living ; and I am savage enough to prefer the woods, the
wilds, and the independence of Monticello, to all the brilliant
pleasures of this gay Capital. I shall, therefore, rejoin myself to
my native country, with new attachments, and with exaggerated
esteem for its advantages ; for though there is less wealth there,
there is more freedom, more ease, and less misery. I should like
428 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
it better, however, if it could tempt you once more to visit it ;
but that is not to be expected. Be this as it may, and whether
fortune means to allow or deny me the pleasure of ever seeing
you again, be assured that the worth which gave birth to my at-
tachment, and which still animates it, will continue to keep it
up while we both live, and that it is with sincerity I subscribe
myself, dear Sir, your friend and servant.
TO JOHN LANGDON.
PARIS, September 11, 1785.
DEAR SIR, Your Captain Yeaton being here, furnishes me an
opportunity of paying the tribute of my congratulations on your
appointment to the government of your State, which I do sin-
cerely. He gives me the grateful intelligence of your health,
and that of Mrs. Langdon. Anxious to promote your service,
and believing he could do it by getting himself naturalized here,
and authorized to command your vessel, he came from Havre to
Paris. But on making the best inquiries I could, it seemed that
the time requisite to go through with this business, would be
much more than he could spare. He therefore declined it. I
wish it were in my power to give you a hope that our commerce,
either with this country, or its islands, was likely to be put on a
better footing. But if it be altered at all, it will probably be for
the worse. The regulations respecting their commerce are by
no means sufficiently stable to be relied on.
Europe is in quiet, and likely to remain so. The affairs of
the Emperor and Dutch are as good as settled, and no other cloud
portends any immediate storm. You have heard much of Amer-
ican vessels taken by the Barbary pirates. The Emperor of Mo-
rocco took one last winter, (the brig Betsey from Philadelphia;)
he did not however reduce the crew to slavery, nor confiscate the
vessel or cargo. He has lately delivered up the crew on the so-
licitation of the Spanish court. No other has ever been taken by
CORRESPONDENCE. 429
them. There are, indeed, rumors of one having been lately
taken by the Algerines. The fact is possible, as there is nothing
to hinder their taking them, but it is not as yet confirmed. I
have little doubt, that we shall be able to place our commerce on
a popular footing with the Barbary States, this summer, and thus
not only render our navigation to Portugal and Spain safe, but
open the Mediterranean as formerly. In spite of treaties, Eng-
land is still our enemy. Her hatred is deep rooted and cordial,
and nothing is wanting with her but the power, to wipe us and
the land we live on out of existence. Her interest, however, is
her ruling passion ; and the late American measures have struck
at that so vitally, and with an energy, too, of which she had
thought us quite incapable, that a possibility seems to open of
forming some arrangement with her. When they shall see de-
cidedly, that, without it, we shall suppress their commerce with
us, they will be agitated by their avarice, on the one hand, and
their hatred and their fear of us, on the other. The result of
this conflict of dirty passions is yet to be awaited. The body of
the people of this country love us cordially. But ministers and
merchants love nobody. The merchants here, are endeavoring
to exclude us from their islands. The ministers will be governed
in it by political motives, and will do it, or not do it, as these
shall appear to dictate, without love or hatred to anybody. It
were to be wished that they were able to combine better, the
various circumstances which prove, beyond a doubt, that all the
advantages of their colonies result, jn the end, to the mother
country. I pray you to present me in the most friendly terms to
Mrs. Langdon, and to be assured of the esteem with which I am,
your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO M. DE LA VALEE.
PARIS, Sepfenber 11, 1785.
SIR, I received duly your favor of August 14th. It is not in
my power to take on the account of Congress any part of the-.
430 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
expenses of your passage, having received no authority of that
kind from them ; nor indeed is the encouragement of emigrations
among the objects with which they are charged. I fear that
when you get to Portsmouth you will find difficulties in the
winter season to go by water to any more southern States. Your
objects being the manufacture of wool and cotton, you will of
course choose to fix yourself where you can get both or one of
these articles in plenty. The most and best wool is to be had in
the middle States ; they begin to make a little cotton in Mary-
land ; they make a great deal in Virginia, and all the States south
of that. The price of clean cotton in Virginia is from 21 to 26
sols, a pound, that is to say, from a fifth to a fourth of a dollar.
General Washington being at the head of the great works carry-
ing on towards clearing the Potomac, I have no doubt but that
work will be completed. It will furnish great opportunities of
using machines of all kinds ; perhaps you may find employ-
ment there for your skill in that way. Alexandria on the Poto-
mac will undoubtedly become a very great place, but Norfolk
would be the best for cotton manufacture. As you are a stranger,
I mention such facts as I suppose may be useful to you. I wish
you success, and am, Sir, your very humble servant.
TO M. LE MARG. DE PONCENS.
PARIS, September 11, 1785.
SIR, I received three days ago the letter you did me the
honor to write to me on the 2d of August. Congress have pur-
chased a very considerable extent of country from the Indians,
and have passed an ordinance laying down rules for disposing of
it. These admit only two considerations for granting lands ;
first, military service rendered during the late war ; and secondly,
money to be paid at the time of granting, for the purpose of dis-
charging their national debt. They direct these lands to be sold
at auction to him who will give most for them, but that, at any
CORRESPONDENCE. 431
rate, they shall not be sold for less than a dollar an acre. How-
ever, as they receive as money the certificates of public debt,
and these can be bought for the half or fourth of their nominal
value, the price of the lands is reduced in proportion. As Con-
gress exercise their government by general rules only, I do not
believe they will grant lands to any individual for any other con-
sideration than those mentioned in their ordinance. They have
ordered the lands to be surveyed, and this work is now actually
going on under the directions of their own geographer. They do
not require information of the quality of the soil, because they will
sell the lands faster than this could be obtained ; and after they
are sold, it is the interest of the purchaser to examine for what
the soil is proper. As ours is a country of husbandmen, I make
no doubt they will receive the book of which you write to me
with pleasure and advantage. I have stated to you such facts as
might enable you to decide for yourself how far that country
presents advantages which might answer your views. It is proper
for me to add that everything relative to the sale and survey of
these lands is out of the province of my duty. Supposing you
might be desirous of receiving again the letters of Dr. Franklin,
I enclose them, and have the honor to be, with the greatest re-
spect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO JAMES MADISON.
PARIS, September 20, 1785.
DEAR SIR, By Mr. Fitzhugh, you will receive my letter of
the first instant. He is still here, and gives me an opportunity
of again addressing you much sooner than I should have done,
but for the discovery of a great piece of inattention. In that
letter I send you a detail of the cost of your books, and desire
you to keep the amount in your hands, as if I had forgot that a
part of it was in fact your own, as being a balance of what I
had remained in your debt. I really did not attend to it in the
432 JEFFERSON'S WOEKS.
moment of writing, and when it occurred to me, I revised my
memorandum book from the time of our being in Philadelphia
together, and stated our account from the beginning, lest I should
forget or mistake any part of it. I enclose you this statement.
You will always be so good as to let me know, from time to
time, your advances for me. Correct with freedom all my pro-
ceedings for you, as. in what I do, I have no other desire than
that of doing exactly what will be most pleasing to you.
I received this summer a letter from Messrs. Buchanan and
Hay, as Directors of the public buildings, desiring I would have
drawn for them, plans of sundry buildings, and, in the first place,
of a capitol. They fixed, for their receiving this plan, a day
which was within about six weeks of that on which their letter
came to my hand. I engaged an architect of capital abilities in
this business. Much time was requisite, after the external form
was agreed on, to make the internal distribution convenient for
the three branches of government. This time was much length-
ened by my avocations to other objects, which I had no right to
neglect. The plan, however, was settled. The gentlemen had
sent me one which they had thought of. The one agreed on
here, is more convenient, more beautiful, gives more room, and
will not cost more than two-thirds of what that would. We
took for our model what is called the Maison quanxe of Nismes,
one of the most beautiful, if riot the most beautiful and precious
morsel of architecture left us by antiquity. It was built by Cains
and Lucius Caesar, and repaired by Louis XIV., and has the suf-
frage of all the judges of architecture who have seen it, as
yielding to no one of the beautiful monuments of Greece, Rome.
Palmyra, and Balbec, which late travellers have communicated
to us. It is very simple, but it is noble beyond expression, and
would have done honor to our country, as presenting to travel-
lers a specimen of taste in our infancy, promising much for
our maturer age. I have been much mortified with information,
which I received two days ago from Virginia, that the first brick
of the capitol would be laid within a few days. But surely, the
delay of this piece of a summer would have been repaired by
CORRESPONDENCE. 433
the savings in the plan preparing here, were we to value its other
superiorities as nothing. But how is a taste in this beautiful art
to be formed in our countrymen unless we avail ourselves of
every occasion when public buildings are to be erected, of pre-
senting to them models for their study and imitation ? Pray try
if you can effect the stopping of this work. I have written also
to E. R. on the subject. The loss will be only of the laying
the bricks already laid, or a part of them. The bricks them-
selves will do again for the interior walls, and one side wall and
one end wall may remain, as they will answer equally well for
our plan. This loss is not to be weighed against the saving of
money which will arise, against the comfort of laying out the
public money for something honorable, the satisfaction of seeing
an object and proof of national good taste, and the regret and
mortification of erecting a monument of our barbarism, which
will be loaded with execrations as long as it shall endure. The
plans are in good forwardness, and I hope will be ready within
three or four weeks. They could not be stopped now, but on
paying their whole price, which will be considerable. If the
undertakers are afraid to undo what they have done, encourage
them to it by a recommendation from the Assembly. You see I
am an enthusiast on the subject of the arts. But it is an enthu-
siasm of which I am not ashamed, as its object is to improve the
taste of my countrymen, to increase their reputation, to reconcile
to them the respect of the world, and procure them its praise.
I shall send off your books, in two trunks, to Havre, within
two or three days, to the care of Mr. Limozin, American agent
there. I will advise you, as soon as I know by what vessel he
forwards them. Adieu. Yours affectionately.
TO EDMUND BANDOLPH.
PARIS, September 20. 1785,
DEAR SIR, Being in your debt for ten volumes of Buffon,
I have endeavored to find something that would be agreeable to
VOL. i. 28
434 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
you to receive, in return. I therefore send you, by way of
Havre, a dictinoary of law, natural and municipal, in thirteen
volumes 4to, called le Code de 1'humanite. It is published by
Felice, but written by him and several other authors of estab-
lished reputation. Is is an excellent work. I do not mean to
say, that it answers fully to its title. That would have required
fifty times the volume. It wants many articles which the title
would induce us to seek in it. But the articles which it con-
tains are well written. It is better than the voluminous Dic-
tionnaire diplomatique, and better, also, than the same branch of
the Encyclopedic methodique. There has been nothing pub-
lished here, since I came, of extraordinary merit. The Ency-
clopedic methodique, which is coming out, from time to time,
must be excepted from this. It is to be had at two guineas less
than the subscription price. I shall be happy to send you any-
thing in this way which you may desire. French books are to
be bought here, for two-thirds of what they can in England.
English and Greek and Latin authors, cost from twenty-five to
fifty per cent, more here than in England.
I received, some time ago, a letter from Messrs. Hay and Bu-
chanan, as Directors of the public buildings, desiring I would
have plans drawn for our public buildings, and in the first place,
for the capitol. I did not receive their letter until within six
weeks of the time they had fixed on, for receiving the drawings.
Nevertheless, I engaged an excellent architect to comply with
their desire. It has taken much time to accommodate the exter-
nal adopted, to the internal arrangement necessary for the three
branches of government. However, it is effected on a plan,
which, with a great deal of beauty and convenience within,
unites an external form on the most perfect model of antiquity
now existing. This is the Maison quarixe of Nismes, built by
Caius and Lucius Caesar, and repaired by Louis XIV., which, in
the opinion of all who have seen it, yields in beauty to no
piece of architecture on earth. The gentlemen enclosed me a
plan of which they had thought. The one preparing here, will
be more convenient, give more room, and cost but two-thirds of
CORRESPONDENCE. 435
that ; and as a piece of architecture, doing honor to our country,
will leave nothing to be desired. The plans will be ready soon.
But, two days ago, I received a letter from Virginia, informing
me the first brick of the capitol would be laid in a few days.
This mortifies me extremely. The delay of this summer, would
have been amply repaid by the superiority and economy of the
plan preparing here. Is it impossible to stop the work where it
is ? You will gain money by losing what is done, and general
approbation, instead of occasioning a regret, which will endure
as long as your building does. How is a taste for a chaste and
good style of building to be formed in our countrymen, unless
we seize all occasions which the erection of public buildings
offers, of presenting to them models for their imitation ? Do, my
dear Sir, exert your influence to stay the further progress of the
work, till you can receive these plans. You will only lose the
price of laying what bricks are already laid, and of taking part
of them asunder. They will do again for the inner walls. A
plan for a prison will be sent at the same time.
Mazzei is here, and in pressing distress for money. I have
helped him as far as I have been able, but particular circumstances
put it out of my power to do more. He is looking with anxiety
to the arrival of every vessel, in hopes of relief through your means.
If he does not receive it soon, it is difficult to foresee his fate.
The quiet which Europe enjoys at present leaves nothing to
communicate to you in the political way. The Emperor and
Dutch still differ about the quantum of money to be paid by the
latter ; they know not what. Perhaps their internal convulsions
will hasten them to a decision. France is improving her navy,
as if she were already in a naval war, yet I see no immediate
prospect of her having occasion for it. England is not likely to
offer war to any nation, unless perhaps to ours. This would
cost us our whole shipping, but in every other respect we might
flatter ourselves with success. But the most successful war sel-
dom pays for its losses. I shall be glad to hear from you when
convenient, and am, with much esteem, dear Sir, your friend and
servant.
436 JEFFERSON'S WOKKS.
TO JOHN ADAMS.
PARIS, September 24, 1785.
DEAR SIR, I have received your favor of the 18th, enclosing
your compliments on your presentation. The sentiments you
therein expressed were such as were entertained in America till
the commercial proclamation, and such as would again return
were a rational conduct to be adopted by Great Britain. I think,
therefore, you by no means compromised yourself or our coun-
try, nor expressed more than it would be our interest to encour-
age, if they were disposed to meet us. I am pleased, however,
to see the answer of the King. It bears the marks of sudden-
ness and surprise, and as he seems not to have had time for re-
flection, we may suppose he was obliged to find his answer in
the real sentiments of his heart, if that heart has any sentiment.
I have no doubt, however, that it contains the real creed of an
Englishman, and that the word which he has let escape, is the true
word of the enigma. " The moment I see such sentiments as
yours prevail, and a disposition to give this country the prefer-
ence^ I will, &c." All this I steadily believe. But the condition
is impossible. Our interest calls for a perfect equality in our
conduct towards these two nations ; but no preference anywhere.
If, however, circumstances should ever oblige us to show a prefer-
ence, a respect for our character, if we had no better motive,
would decide to which it should be given.
My letters from members of Congress render it doubtful
whether they would not rather that full time should be given for
the present disposition of America to mature itself, and to produce
a permanent improvement in the federal constitution, rather than
by removing the incentive to prevent the improvement. It is
certain that our commerce is in agonies at present, and that these
would be relieved by opening the British ports in the West In-
dies. It remains to consider whether a temporary continuance
under these sufferings would be paid for by the amendment it is
likely to produce. However, I believe there is no fear that Great
CORRESPONDENCE. 437
Britain will puzzle us by leaving it in our choice to hasten or
delay a treaty.
Is insurance made on Houdon's life ? I am uneasy about it,
lest we should hear of any accident. As yet there is no reason
to doubt their safe passage. If the insurance is not made, I will
pray you to have it done immediately.
As I have not received any London newspapers as yet, I am
obliged to ask you what is done as to them, lest the delay should
proceed from some obstacle to be removed.
There is a Mr. Thompson at Dover, who has proposed to
me a method of getting them post free, but I have declined re-
sorting to it till I should know in what train the matter is at
present.
I have the honor to be, with the most perfect esteem, dear
Sir, your friend and servant.
TO JOHN ADAMS.
PARIS, September 24, 1785.
DEAR SIR, My letter of September the 19th, written the
morning after Mr. Lambe's arrival here, will inform you of that
circumstance. I transmit you herewith copies of the papers he
brought to us on the subject of the Barbary treaties. You will
see by them that Congress have adopted the very plan which we
were proposing to pursue. It will now go on with less danger
of objection from the other parties. The receipt of these new
papers, therefore, has rendered necessary no change, in matter of
substance, in the despatches we had prepared. But they render
some formal changes necessary. For instance, in our letter of
credence for Mr. Barclay to the Emperor of Morocco, it becomes
improper to enter into those* explanations which seemed proper
when that letter was drawn, because Congress, in their letter,
enter into those explanations. In the letter to the Count de
Vergennes, it became proper to mention the new full powers re-
438 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
ceived from Congress, and which, in some measure, accord with
the idea communicated by him to us from the Marechal de Cas-
tries. These and other formal alterations, which appeared neces-
sary to me, I have made, leaving so much of the original draughts,
approved and amended by you, as were not inconsistent with
these alterations. I have, therefore, had these prepared fair, to
save you the trouble of copying ; yet, wherever you choose to
make alterations, you will be so good as to make them, taking,
in that case, the trouble of having new fair copies made out.
You will perceive by Mr. Jay's letter that Congress had not
thought proper to give Mr. Lambe any appointment. I imagine
they apprehend it might interfere with measures actually taken
by us. Notwithstanding the perfect freedom which they are
pleased to leave to us on this subject, I cannot feel myself clear
of that bias which a presumption of their pleasure gives, and
ought to give. I presume that Mr. Lambe met their approba-
tion, because of the recommendations he carried from the Gov-
ernor and State of Connecticut, because of his actual knowledge
of the country and people of the States of Barbary, because of
the detention of these letters from March to July, which, consid-
ering their pressing nature, would otherwise have been sent by
other Americans, who, in the meantime, have come from New
York to Paris, and because, too, of the information we received
by Mr. Jarvis. These reasons are not strong enough to set aside
our appointment of Mr. Barclay to Morocco ; that I think should
go on, as no man could be sent who would enjoy more the con-
fidence of Congress. But they are strong enough to induce me
to propose to you the appointment of Lambe to Algiers. He
has followed for many years the Barbary trade, and seems inti-
mately acquainted with those States. I have not seen enough
of him to judge of his abilities. He seems not deficient, as far
as I can see, and the footing on which he comes, must furnish a
presumption for what we do not see. We must say the same as
to his integrity ; we must rely for this on the recommendations
he brings, as it is impossible for us to judge of this for ourselves.
Yet it will be our duty to use such reasonable cautions as are in
COBBESPONDEtfCB. 439
our power. Two occur to me. 1. To give him a clerk capable
of assisting and attending to his proceedings, and who, in case
he thought anything was going amiss, might give us informa-
tion. 2. Not to give him a credit on Yan Staphorst and Willinck,
but let his drafts be made on yourself, which, with the knowl-
edge you will have of his proceedings, will enable you to check
them, if you are sensible of any abuse intended. This will give
you trouble ; but as I have never found you declining trouble
when it is necessary, I venture to propose it. I hope it will not
expose you to inconvenience, as by instructing Lambe to insert
in his drafts a proper usance, you can, in the meantime, raise the
money for them by drawing on Holland. I must inform you
that Mr. Barclay wishes to be put on the same footing with Mr.
Lambe, as to this article, and therefore I return you your letter
of credit on Van Staphorst & Co. As to the first article, there
is great difficulty. There is nobody at Paris fit for the under-
taking who would be likely to accept it. I mean there is no
American, for I should be anxious to place a native in the trust.
Perhaps you can send us one from London. There is a Mr.
Randall there from New York, whom Mr. Barclay thinks might
be relied on very firmly for integrity and capacity. He is there
for his health ; perhaps you can persuade him to go to Algiers in
pursuit of it. If you cannot, I really know not what will be
done. It is impossible to propose to Bancroft to go in a secon-
dary capacity. Mr. Barclay and myself have thought of Cairnes,
at L'Orient, as a dernier resort. But it is uncertain, or rather
improbable, that he will undertake it. You will be pleased, in
the first place, to consider of my proposition to send Lambe to
Algiers ; and in the next, all the circumstaces before detailed, as
consequences of that.
The enclosed letter from Richard O'Bryan furnishes powerful
motives for commencing, by some means or other, the treaty
with Algiers, more immediately than would be done if left on
Mr. Barclay. You will perceive by that, that two of our ves-
sels, with their crews and cargoes, have been carried captive into
that port. What is to be done as to those poor people ? I am
440 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
for hazarding the supplementary instruction to Lambe which ac-
companies these papers. Alter it. or reject it, as you please.
You ask what I think of claiming the Dutch interposition. I
doubt the fidelity of any interposition too much to desire it sin-
cerely. Our letters to this court heretofore seemed to oblige us
to communicate with them on the subject. If you think the
Dutch would take amiss our not applying to them, I will join
you in the application. Otherwise, the fewer who are apprised
of our proceedings, the better. To communicate them to the
States of Holland, is to communicate them to the whole world.
Mr. Short returned last night, and brought the Prussian treaty,
duly executed in English and French. We may send it to Con-
gress by the Mr. Fitzhughs, going from hence. Will you draw
and sign a short letter for that purpose ? I send you a copy of
a letter received from the Marquis Fayette. In the present un-
settled state of American commerce, I had as leave avoid all fur-
ther treaties, except with American powers. If Count Merci,
therefore, does not propose the subject to me, I shall not to him,
nor do more than decency requires, if he does propose it.
I am, with great esteem, dear Sir, your most obedient humble
servant.
TO F. HOPKINSON.
PARIS, September 25, 1785.
DEAR SIR, My last to you was of the 6th of July. Since
that, I have received yours of July the 23d. I do not altogether
despair of making something of your method of quilling, though,
as yet, the prospect is not favorable. I applaud much your perse-
verance in improving this instrument, and benefiting mankind
almost in spite of their teeth. I mentioned to Piccini the im-
provement with which I am entrusted. He plays on the piano-
forte, and therefore did not feel himself personally interested. I
hope some better opportunity will yet fall in my way of doing
it justice. I had almost decided, on his advice, to get a piano-
CORRESPONDENCE. 441
forte for my daughter ; but your last letter may pause me, till I
see its effect.
Arts and arms are alike asleep for the moment. Ballooning
indeed goes on. There are two artists in the neighborhood of
Paris, who seem to be advancing towards the desideratum in
this business. They are able to rise and fall at will, without ex-
pending their gas, and to deflect forty-five degrees from the
course of the wind.
I desired you, in my last, to send the newspapers, notwith-
standing the expense. I had then no idea of it. Some late in-
stances have made me perfectly acquainted with it. I have
therefore been obliged to adopt the following plan. To have
my newspapers, from the different States, enclosed to the office
for Foreign Affairs, and to desire Mr. Jay to pack the whole in
a box, and send it by the packet as merchandise, directed to the
American consul at L'Orient, who will forward it to me by the
periodical wagons. In this way, they will only cost me livres
where they now cost me guineas. I must pray you, just before
the departure of every French packet, to send my papers on
hand, to Mr. Jay, in this way. I do not know whether I am
subject to American postage or not, in general; but I think
newspapers never are. I have sometimes thought of sending a
copy of my Notes to the Philosophical Society, as a tribute
due to them ; but this would seem as if I considered them as
worth something, which I am conscious they are not. I will
not ask you for your advice on this occasion, because it is one
of those on which no man is authorized to ask a sincere opinion.
I shall therefore refer it to further thoughts.
I am, with very sincere esteem, dear Sir, your friend and servant.
TO R. IZARD.
PARIS, September 26, 1785.
DEAR SIR, I received, a few days ago, your favor of the 10th
of June, and am to thank you for the trouble you have given
442 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
yourself, to procure me information on the subject of the com-
merce of your State. I pray you also, to take the trouble of
expressing my acknowledgments to the Governor and Chamber
of Commerce, as well as to Mr. Hall, for the very precise details
on this subject, with which they have been pleased to honor me.
Fo\ir letter of last January, of which you make mention, never
came to my hands. Of course, the papers now received are the
first and only ones which have come safe. The infidelities of
the post offices, both of England and France, are not unknown
to you. The former are the most rascally, because they retain
one's letters, not choosing to take the trouble of copying them.
The latter, when they have taken copies, are so civil as to send
the originals, resealed clumsily with a composition, on which
they have previously taken the impression of the seal. England
shows no dispositions to enter into friendly connections with
us. On the contrary, her detention of our posts, seems to be
the speck which is to produce a storm. I judge that a war with
America would be a popular war in England. Perhaps the
situation of Ireland may deter the ministry from hastening it on.
Peace is at length made between the Emperor and Dutch. The
terms are not published, but it is said, he gets ten millions of
florins, the navigation of the Scheldt not quite to Antwerp, and
two forts. However, this is not to be absolutely relied on.
The league formed by the King of Prussia against the Emperor,
is a most formidable obstacle to his ambitious designs. It cer-
tainly has defeated his views on Bavaria, and will render doubt-
ful the election of his nephew to be King of the Romans. Mat-
ters are not yet settled between him and the Turk. In truth,
he undertakes too much. At home he has made some good
regulations.
Your present pursuit being (the wisest of all) agriculture, I
am not in a situation to be useful to it. You know that France
is not the country most celebrated for this art. I went the other
day to see a plough which was to be worked by a windlass,
without horses or oxen. It was a poor aflair. With a very
troublesome apparatus, applicable only to a dead level, four men
CORRESPONDENCE. 443
could do the work of two horses. There seems a possibility
that the great desideratum in the use of the halloon may be ob-
tained. There are two persons at Javel (opposite to Auteuil)
who are pushing this matter. They are able to rise and fall at
will, without expending their gas, and they can deflect forty-five
degrees from the course of the wind.
I took the liberty of asking you to order me a Charleston
newspaper. The expense of French postage is so enormous,
that I have been obliged to desire that my newspapers, from the
different States, may be sent to the office for Foreign Affairs at
New York ; and I have requested of Mr. Jay to have them al-
ways packed in a box, and sent by the French packets as mer-
chandise, to the care of the American consul at L'Orient, who
will send them on by the periodical wagons. Will you permit
me to add this to the trouble I have before given you, of order-
ing the printer to send them, under cover to Mr. Jay, by such
opportunities by water, as occur from time to time. This re-
quest must go to the acts of your Assembly also. I shall be on
the watch to send you anything that may appear here on the
subjects of agriculture or the arts, which may be worth your
perusal. I sincerely congratulate Mrs. Izard and yourself, on the
double accession to your family by marriage and a new birth.
My daughter values much your remembrance of her, and prays
to have her respects presented to the ladies and yourself. In
this I join her, and shall embrace with pleasure every opportu-
nity of assuring you of the sincere esteem, with which I have
the honor to be, dear Sir, your most obedient and most humble
servant
TO MR. BELLINI.
PARIS, September 30, 1785.
DEAR SIR, Your estimable favor, covering a letter to Mr.
Mazzei, came to hand on the 26th instant. The letter to Mr.
444 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
Mazzei was put into his hands in the same moment, as he hap-
pened to be present. I leave to him to convey to you all his
complaints, as it will be more agreeable to me to express to you
the satisfaction I received, on being informed of your perfect
health. Though I could not receive the same pleasing news
of Mrs. Bellini, yet the philosophy with which I am told she
bears the loss of health, is a testimony the more how much she
deserved the esteem I bear her. Behold me at length on the
vaunted scene of Europe ! . It is not necessary for your informa-
tion, that I should enter into details concerning it. But you are,
perhaps, curious to know how this new scene has struck a sav-
age of the mountains of America. Not advantageously, I assure
you. I find the general fate of humanity here most deplorable.
The truth of Voltaire's observation, offers itself perpetually, that
every man here must be either the hammer or the anvil. It is a
true picture of that country to which they say we shall pass
hereafter, and where we are to see God and his angels in splen-
dor, and crowds of the damned trampled under their feet.
While the great mass of the people are thus suffering under phy-
sical and moral oppression, I have endeavored to examine more
nearly the condition of the great, to appreciate the true value of
the circumstances in their situation, which dazzle the bulk of
spectators, and, especially, to compare it with that degree of
happiness which is enjoyed in America, by every class of peo-
ple. Intrigues of love occupy the younger, and those of am-
bition, the elder part of the great. Conjugal love having no ex-
istence among them, domestic happiness, of which that is the
basis, is utterly unknown. In lieu of this, are substituted pur-
suits which nourish and invigorate all our bad passions, and
which offer only moments of ecstacy, amidst days and months
of restlessness and torment. Much, very much inferior, this, to
the tranquil, permanent felicity with which domestic society in
America blesses most of its inhabitants ; leaving them to follow
steadily those pursuits which health and reason approve, and
rendering truly delicious the intervals of those pursuits.
In science, the mass of the people are two centuries behind
CORRESPONDENCE. 445
ours ; their literati, half a dozen years before us. Books, really
good, acquire just reputation in that time, and so become known
to us, and communicate to us all their advances in knowledge.
Is not this delay compensated, by our being placed out of the
reach of that swarm of nonsensical publications which issues
daily from a thousand presses, and perishes almost in issuing ?
With respect to what are termed polite manners, without sacri-
ficing too much the sincerity of language, I would wish my coun-
trymen to adopt just so much of European politeness, as to be
ready to make all those little sacrifices of self, which really ren-
der European manners amiable, and relieve society from the dis-
agreeable scenes to which rudeness often subjects it. Here, it
seems that a man might pass a life without encountering a single
rudeness. In the pleasures of the table, they are far before us,
because, with good taste they unite temperance. They do not
terminate the most sociable meals" by transforming themselves
into brutes. I have never yet seen a man drunk in France, even
among the lowest of the people. Were I to proceed to tell you
how much I enjoy their architecture, sculpture, painting, music
I should want words. It is in these arts they shine. The last
of them, particularly, is an enjoyment, the deprivation of which
with us, cannot be calculated. I am almost ready to say, it is
the only thing which from my heart I envy them, and which, in
spite of all the authority of the Decalogue, I do covet. But I
am running on in an estimate of things infinitely better known
to you than to me, and which will only serve to convince you,
that I have brought with me all the prejudices of country, habit,
and age. But whatever I may allow to be charged to me as pre-
judice, in every other instance, I have one sentiment at least,
founded on reality : it is that of the perfect esteem which your
merit and that of Mrs. Bellini have produced, and which will
forever enable me to assure you of the sincere regard with which
I am, dear Sir, your friend and servant.
JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
TO JAMES MADISON, OF WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE.
PARIS, October 2, 1785.
DEAR SIR, I have duly received your favor of April the 10th,
oy Mr. Mazzei. You therein speak of a new method of raising
water by steam, which you suppose will come into general use.
I know of no new method of that kind, and suppose (as you say
the account you have received of it is very imperfect) that some
person has represented to you, as new, a fire engine erected at
Paris, and which supplies the greater part of the town with water.
But this is nothing more than the fire engine you have seen de-
scribed in the books of hydraulics, and particularly in the Dic-
tionary of Arts and Sciences, published in 8vo, by Owen, the
idea of which was first taken from Papin's Digester. It would
have been better called the steam engine. The force of the
steam of water, you know, is immense. In this engine, it is
made to exert itself towards the working of pumps. That of
Paris is, I believe, the largest known, raising four hundred
thousand cubic feet (French) of water, in twenty-four hours; or
rather, I should have said, those of Paris, for there are two under
one roof, each raising that quantity.
The Abbu Rochon not living at Paris, I have not had an op-
portunity of seeing him, and of asking him the questions you
desire, relative to the crystal of which I wrote you. I shall
avail myself of the earliest opportunity I can, of doing it. I
shall cheerfully execute your commands as to the Encyclopedic,
when I receive them. The price will be only thirty guineas.
About half the work is out. The volumes of your Button which
are spoiled, can be replaced here.
I expect that this letter will be carried by the Mr. Fitzhughs,
in a ship from Havre to Portsmouth. I have therefore sent to
Havre some books which I expected would be acceptable to you.
These are the Bibliothcque Physico-ojconomique, which will
give you most of the late improvements in the Arts ; the Con-
noissance des Tems for 1786 and 1787, which is as late as they
are published ; and some pieces on air and fire, wherein you will
CORRESPONDENCE. 447
find all the discoveries hitherto made on these subjects. These
books are made into a packet, with your address on them, and
are put into a trunk, wherein is a small packet for Mr. Wythe,
another for Mr. Page, and a parcel of books, without direction,
for Peter Carr. I have taken the liberty of directing the trunk
to you, as the surest means of its getting safe. I pay the freight
of it here, so that there will be no new demands, but for the
transportation from the ship's side to Williamsburg, which I will
pray you to pay ; and as much the greatest part is for my nephew,
I will take care to repay it to you.
In the last volume of the Connoissance des Terns, you will
find the tables for the planet Herschel. It is a curious circum-
stance, that this planet was seen thirty years ago by Mayer, and
supposed by him to be a fixed star. He accordingly determined
a place for it, in his catalogue of the zodiacal stars, making
it the 964th of that catalogue. Bode, of Berlin, observed in
1781 that this star was missing. Subsequent calculations of
the motion of the planet Herschel, show that it must have been,
at the time of Mayer's observation, where he had placed his
964th star.
Herschel has pushed his discoveries of double stars, now, to
upwards of nine hundred, being twice the number of those com-
municated in the Philosophical Transactions. You have proba-
bly seen, that a Mr. Pigott had discovered periodical variations
of light in the star Algol. He has observed the same in the ? of
Antinous, and makes the period of variation seven days, four
hours, and thirty minutes, the duration of the increase sixty-three
hours, and of the decrease thirty-six hours. What are we to
conclude from this ? That there are suns which have their or-
bits of revolution too ? But this would suppose a wonderful
harmony in their planets, and present a new scene, where the
attracting powers should be without, and not within the orbit.
The motion of our sun would be a miniature of this. But this
must be left to you astronomers.
I went some time ago to see a machine which offers something
new. A man had applied to a light boat a very large screw, the
448 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
thread of which was a thin plate, two feet broad, applied by its
edge spirally around a small axis. It somewhat resembled a
bottle brush, if you will suppose the hairs of the bottle brush
joining together, and forming a spiral plane. This, turned on
its axis in the air, carried the vessel across the Seine. It is, in
fact, a screw which takes hold of the air and draws itself along
by it ; losing, indeed, much of its effort by the yielding nature
of the body it lays hold of to pull itself on by. I think it may
be applied in the water with much greater effect, and to very
useful purposes. Perhaps it may be used also for the balloon.
It is impossible but you must have heard long ago of the ma-
chine for copying letters at a single stroke, as we had received it
in America before I left there. I have written a long letter to
my nephew, in whose education I feel myself extremely inter-
ested. I shall rely much on your friendship for conducting him
in the plan I mark out for him, and for guarding him against
those shoals on which youth sometimes shipwreck. I trouble
you to present to Mr. Wythe my affectionate remembrance of
him, and am, with very great esteem, dear Sir, your friend and
servant.
TO DR. FRANKLIN.
TARTS, October 5. 1785.
DEAR SIR, A vessel sailing from Havre to Philadelphia, fur-
nishes the Messrs. Fitzhughs with a passage to that place. To
them, therefore, I confide a number of letters and packets which
I have " received for you from sundry quarters, and which, I
doubt not, they will deliver safe. Among these, is one from
M. Du Plessis. On receipt of your letter, in answer to the one
I had written you, on the subject of his memorial, I sent to M.
La Motte , M. Chaumont, and wherever else I thought there was
a probability of finding out Du Plessis' address. But all in vain
I meant to examine his memoir, as you desired, and to have it
copied. Lately, he came and brought it with him, copied by
CORRESPONDENCE. 449
himself. He desired me to read it, and enclose it to you, which
I have done.
We have no public news worth communicating to you, but the
signing of preliminaries between the Emperor and Dutch. The
question is, then, with whom the Emperor will pick the next
quarrel. Oar treaty with Prussia goes by this conveyance. But
it is not to be spoken of, till a convenient time is allowed for ex-
changing ratifications.
Science offers nothing new since your departure, nor any new
publication wortli your notice. All your friends here are well.
Those in England, have carried you captive to Algiers. They
have published a letter, as if written by Truxen, the 20th of
August, from Algiers, stating the circumstances of the capture,
and that you bore your slavery to admiration. I happened to re-
ceive a letter from Algiers, dated August the 24th, informing me
that two vessels were then there, taken from us, and naming the
vessels and captains. This was a satisfactory proof to us, that
you were not there. The fact being so, we would have gladly
dispensed with the proof, as the situation of our countrymen
there, was described as very distressing.
Were I to mention all those who make inquiries after you,
there would be no end to my letter. I cannot, however, pass
over those of the good old Countess d'Hoditot, with whom I
dined on Saturday, at Sanois. They were very affectionate. I
hope you have had a good passage. Your essay in crossing the
channel, gave us great hopes you would experience little incon-
venience on the rest of the voyage. My wishes place you in
the bosom of your friends, in good health, and with a well-
grounded prospect of preserving it long, for your' own sake, for
theirs, and that of the world.
I am, with the sincerest attachment and respect, dear Sir, your
most obedient, and most humble servant.
VOL. i. 29
450 JEFFERSON'S WOEKS.
TO SAMUEL OSGOOD.
PARIS, October 5, 1785.
DEAR SIR, It was with very sincere pleasure, I heard of your
appointment to the hoard of treasury, as well from the hope tt at
it might not be disagreeable to yourself, as from the confidence
that your administration would be wise. I heartily wish the
States may, by their contributions, enable you to re-establish a
credit, which cannot be lower than at present, to exist at all.
This is partly owing to their real deficiencies, and partly to the
lies propagated by the London papers, which are probably paid
for by the minister, to reconcile the people to the loss of us.
Unluckily, it indisposes them, at the same time, to form rational
connections with us. Should this produce the amendment of
our federal constitution, of which your papers give us hopes, we
shall receive a permanent indemnification for a temporary loss.
All things here, promise an arrangement between the Emperor
and Dutch. Their ministers have signed preliminary articles,
some of which, however, leave room for further cavil. The
Dutch pay ten millions of florins, yield some forts and territory,
arid the navigation of the Schelt to Saftingen. Till our treaty
with England be fully executed, it is desirable to us, that all the
world should be in peace. That done, their wars would do us
little harm.
I find myself under difficulties here, which I will take the lib-
erty of explaining to you as a friend. Mr. Carmichael lately
drew a bill on Mr. Grand for four thousand livres, I suppose, for
his salary. Mr. Grand said, he was not used to accept drafts but
by the desire of Dr. Franklin, and rested it on me to say, whether
this bill should be paid or not. I thought it improper, that the
credit of so confidential a person as Mr. Carmichael, should be
affected by a refusal, and therefore advised payment. Mr. Dumas
has drawn on me for twenty-seven hundred livres, his half year's
salary, informing me he always drew on Dr. Franklin. I shall
advise the payment. I have had loan office bills, drawn on the
commissioners of the United States, presented to me. My an-
CORRESPONDENCE. 451
swer has been, " These are very old bills. Had they been pre-
sented while those gentlemen were in Europe, they would have
been paid. You kept them up till Dr. Franklin, the last of them,
has returned to America ; you must therefore send them there,
and they will be paid. I am not the drawee described in the
bill." It is impossible for me to meddle with these bills. The
gentlemen who had been familiar with them, from the begin-
ning, who kept books of them, and knew well the form of these
books, often paid bills twice. But how can I interfere with
them, who have not a scrip of a pen on their subject, who never
saw a book relating to them, and who, if I had the books, should
much oftener be bewildered in the labyrinth, than the gentlemen
Avho have kept them ? I think it, therefore, most advisable, that
what bills remain out, should be sent back to America for pay-
ment, and therefore advise Mr. Barclay to return thither, all the
books and papers relative to them. There is the proper and ulti-
mate deposit of all records of this nature. All these articles are
very foreign to my talents, and foreign also, as I conceive, to the
nature of my duties. Dr. Franklin was obliged to meddle with
them, from the circumstances which existed. But, these having
ceased, I suppose it practicable for your board to direct the ad-
ministration of your moneys here, in every circumstance. It is
only necessary for me to draw my own allowances, and to order
payment for services done by others, by my direction, and with-
in the immediate line of my office ; such as paying couriers,
postage, and other extraordinary services, which must rest on my
discretion, and at my risk, if disapproved by Congress. I will
thank you for your advice on this subject, and if you think a
resolution of your board necessary, I will pray you to send me
such a one, and that it may relieve me from all concerns with
the money of the United States, other than those I have just
spoken of. I do not mean by this, to testify a disposition to
render no service but what is rigorously within my duty. I am
the farthest in the world from this ; it is a question I shall never
ask myself ; nothing making me more happy than to render any
service in my power, of whatever description. But I wish only
452 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
to be excused from intermeddling in business in which I have no
skill, and should do more harm than good.
Congress were pleased to order me an advance of two quarters'
salary. At that time, I supposed that I might refund it, or spare
so much from my expenses, by the time the third quarter became
due. Probably, they might expect the same. But it has been
impossible. The expense of my outfit, though I have taken it
up, on a scale as small as could be admitted, has been very far
beyond what I had conceived. I have, therefore, not only been
unable to refund the advance ordered, but been obliged to go be-
yond it. I wished to have avoided so much, as was occasioned
by the purchase of furniture. But those who hire furniture,
asked me forty per cent, a year, for the use of it. It was better
to buy, therefore ; and this article, clothes, carriage, &c., have
amounted to considerably more than the advance ordered. Per-
haps, it may be thought reasonable to allow me an outfit. The
usage of every other nation has established this, and reason really
pleads for it. I do not wish to make a shilling ; but only my
expenses to be defrayed, and in a moderate style. On the most
moderate, which the reputation or interest of those I serve, would
admit, it will take me several years to liquidate the advances for
my outfit. I mention this, to enable you to understand the ne-
cessities which have obliged me to call for more money than was
probably expected, and, understanding them, to explain them to
others. Being perfectly disposed to conform myself decisively,
to what shall be thought proper, you cannot oblige me more,
than by communicating to me your sentiments hereon, which I
shall receive as those of a friend, and govern myself accordingly.
I am, with the most perfect esteem, dear Sir, your friend and
servant.
TO JOHN JAY.
PARIS, October 6, 1785.
SIR My letter of August the 30th, acknowledged the receipt
of yours of July the 13th. Since that, I have received your
CORRESPONDENCE. 453
letter of August the 13th, enclosing a correspondence between
the Marquis de La Fayette and Monsieur de Calonnes, and another
of the same date, enclosing the papers in Fortin's case. I imme-
diately wrote to M. Limozin, at Havre, desiring he would send me
a state of the case, and inform me what were the difficulties which
suspended its decision. He has promised me, by letter, to do this
as soon as possible, and I shall not fail in attention to it.
The Emperor and Dutch have signed preliminaries, which are
now made public. You will see them in the papers which ac-
company this. They still leave a good deal to discussion. How-
ever, it is probable they will end in peace. The party in Hol-
land, possessed actually of the sovereignty, wish for peace, that
they may push their designs on the Stadtholderate. This coun-
try wishes for peace, because her financies need arrangement.
The Bavarian exchange has produced to public view, that jeal-
ousy and rancor between the courts of Vienna and Berlin, which
existed before, though it was smothered. This will appear by
the declarations of the two courts. The demarcation between
the Emperor and Turk does not advance. Still, however, I sup-
pose neither of those two germs of war likely to open soon. I
consider the conduct of France as the best evidence of this. If
she had apprehended a war from either of those quarters, she
would not have been so anxious to leave the Emperor one enemy
the less, by placing him at peace with the Dutch. While she is
exerting all her powers to preserve peace by land, and making no
preparation which indicates a fear of its being disturbed in that
quarter, she is pushing her naval preparations, with a spirit unex-
ampled in time of peace. By the opening of the next spring,
she will have eighty ships, of seventy-four guns and upwards,
ready for sea, at a moment's warning ; and the further construc-
tions proposed, will probably, within two years, raise the number
to an hundred. New regulations have been made, too, for per-
fecting the classification of her seamen ; an institution, which,
dividing all the seamen of the nation into classes, subjects them
to tours of duty by rotation, and enables government, at all times,
to man their ships. Their works for rendering Cherbourg a har-
454 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
bor for their vessels of war, and Dunkirk, for frigates and priva-
teers, leave now little doubt of success. It is impossible that
these preparations can have in view, any other nation than the
English. Of course, they show a greater diffidence of their peace
with them, than with any other power.
I mentioned to you, in my letter of August the 14th, that I had
desired Captain John Paul Jones to inquire into the circumstances
of Peyrouse's expedition. I have now the honor of enclosing
you copies of my letter to him, and of his answer. He refuses
to accept of my indemnification for his expenses, which is an ad-
ditional proof of his disinterested spirit, and of his devotion to
the service of America. The circumstances are obvious, which
indicate an intention to settle factories, and not colonies, at least
for the present. However, nothing shows for what place they
are destined. The conjectures are divided between New Hol-
land, and the Northwest coast of America.
According to what I mentioned in my letter of August 30th,
I have appointed Mr. Short my secretary here. I enclose to you
copies of my letters to him and Mr. Grand, which will show to
Congress that he stands altogether at their pleasure. I mention
this circumstance, that, if what I have done meets with their
disapprobation, they may have the goodness to signify it imme-
diately, as I should otherwise conclude that they do not disap-
prove it. I shall be ready to conform myself to what would be
most agreeable to them.
This will be accompanied by the gazettes of France and Ley-
den, to the present date.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the highest esteem
and respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO ELBRIDGE GERRY.
PARIS, October 11, 1785.
DEAR SIR, I received, last night, the letter signed by your-
self and the other gentlemen, delegates of Massachusetts and
Virginia, recommending Mr. Sayer for the Barbary negotiations.
COKKESPONDENCE. 455
As that was the first moment of its suggestion to me, you will
perceive, by my letter of this day, to Mr. Jay, that the business
was already established in other hands, as your letter came at the
same time with the papers actually signed by Mr. Adams, for
Messrs. Barclay and Lambe, according to arrangements previously
taken between us. I should, with great satisfaction, have ac-
ceded to the recommendation in the letter : not indeed as to Mo-
rocco, because, no better man than Mr. Barclay could have been
substituted ; but as to Algiers, Mr. Lambe being less known to
me. However, I hope well of him, and rely considerably on the
aid he will receive from his secretary, Mr. Randall, who bears a
very good character. I suppose Mr. Adams entitled to the same
just apology, as matters were settled otherwise, before he proba-
bly received your letter. I pray you to communicate this to the
other gentlemen of your and our delegation, as my justification.
The peace made between the Emperor and Dutch leaves
Europe quiet for this campaign. As yet, we do not know where
the storm, dissipated for the moment, will gather again. Proba-
bly over Bavaria or Turkey. But this will be for another year.
When our instructions were made out, they were conceived
on a general scale, and supposed that all the European nations
would be disposed to form commercial connections with us. It
is evident, however, that a very different degree of importance
was annexed to these different States. Spain, Portugal, England
and France, were most important. Holland, Sweden, Denmark,
in a middling degree. The others, still less so. Spain treats in
another line. Portugal is disposed to do the same. England
will not treat at all ; nor will France, probably, add to her former
treaty. Failing in the execution of these our capital objects, it
has appeared to me that the pushing the treaties with the lesser
powers might do us more harm than good, by hampering the
measures the States may find it necessary to take, for securing
those commercial interests, by separate measures, which is refused
to be done here, in concert. I have understood through various
channels, that the members of Congress wished a change in our
instructions. I have, in my letter to Mr. Jay, of this date, men-
456 JEFFERSON'S WOKKS.
tioned the present situation and aspect of these treaties, for their
information.
My letter of the 6th instant, to Mr. Jay, having communicated
what little there is new here, I have only to add assurances of
the sincere esteem with which I have the honor to be, dear Sir,
your friend and servant.
TO THE COUNT DE VERGENNES.
PARIS, Otober 11, 1785.
SIR, I have the honor of enclosing to your Excellency a re-
port of the voyage of an American ship, the first which has gone
to China. The circumstances which induces Congress to direct
this communication is the very friendly conduct of the consul of
his Majesty at Macao, and of the commanders and other officers
of the French vessels in those seas. It has been with singular
satisfaction that Congress have seen these added to the many
other proofs of the cordiality of this nation towards our citizens.
It is the more pleasing, when it appears in the officers of gov-
ernment, because it is then viewed as an emanation of the spirit
of the government. It would be an additional gratification to
Congress, in this particular instance, should any occasion arise
of notifying those officers, that their conduct has been justly re-
presented to your Excellency on the part of the United States,
and has met your approbation. Nothing will be wanting, on our
part, to foster corresponding dispositions in our citizens, and we
hope that proofs of their actual existence have appeared, and will
appear, whenever occasion shall offer. A sincere affection be-
tween the two people is the broadest basis on which their peace
can be built.
It will always be among the most pleasing functions of my
office, to be made the channel of communicating the friendly
sentiments of the two governments. It is additionally so, as it
gives me an opportunity of assuring your Excellency of the
CORRESPONDENCE. 457
high respect and esteem with which I have the honor to be,
your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
TO JOHN JAY.
PARIS, October 11, 1785.
SIR, In my letter of August the 14th, I had the honor of ex-
pressing to you the uneasiness I felt, at the delay of the instruc-
tions on the subject of the Barbary treaties, of which Mr. Lambe
was the bearer, and of informing you that I had proposed to Mr.
Adams, that if he did not arrive either in the French or English
packets, then expected, we should send some person to negotiate
these treaties. As he did not arrive in these packets, and I found
Mr. Barclay was willing to undertake the negotiations, I wrote to
Mr. Adams (who had concurred in the proposition made him), in-
forming him that Mr. Barclay would go, and proposing papers
for our immediate signature. The day before the return of the
courier, Mr. Lambe arrived with our instructions, the letters of cre-
dence, &c., enclosed in yours of March the llth, 1785. Just
about the same time, came to hand the letter No. 1, informing
me, that two American vessels were actually taken and carried
into Algiers, and leaving no further doubt that that power was
exercising hostilities against us, in the Atlantic. .The conduct
of the Emperor of Morocco had been such, as forbade us to post-
pone his treaty to that with Algiers. But the commencement of
hostilities by the latter, and their own activity, pressed the ne-
cessity of immediate propositions to them. It was therefore
thought best, while Mr. Barclay should be proceeding with the
Emperor of Morocco, that some other agent should go to Algiers.
We had few subjects to choose out of. Mr. Lambe's knowledge
of the country, of its inhabitants, of their manner of transacting
business, the recommendations from his State to Congress of his
fitness for this employment, and other information founding a pre-
sumption that he would be approved, occasioned our concluding
458 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
to send him to Algiers. The giving him proper authorities, and
new ones to Mr. Barclay conformable to our own powers, was
the subject of a new courier between Mr. Adams and myself.
He returned last night, and I had the honor of enclosing you
copies of all the papers we furnish those gentlemen with ; which
will possess Congress fully of our proceedings herein. They are
numbered from two to ten inclusive. The supplementary in-
struction to Mr. Lambe, No. 5, must rest for justification on the
emergency of the case. The motives which led to it must be
found in the feelings of the human heart, in a partiality for those
sufferers who are of our own country, and in the obligations of
every government to yield protection to their citizens, as the
consideration of their obedience. It will be a comfort to know
that Congress does not disapprove this step.
Considering the treaty with Portugal among the most interest-
ing to the United States, I some time ago took occasion at Ver-
sailles, to ask of the Portuguese ambassador if he had yet re-
ceived from his court an answer to our letter. He told me he
had not ; but that he would make it the subject of another let-
ter. Two days ago, his secretaire d'ambassade called on me,
with a letter from his minister to the ambassador, in which was
the following paragraph, as he translated it to me ; and I com-
mitted it to writing from his mouth. " Your Excellency has
communicated to us the substance of your conversation with the
American minister. That power ought to have been already
persuaded, by the manner in which its vessels have been received
here ; and consequently that his Majesty would have much satis-
faction, in maintaining perfect harmony and good understanding
with the same United States. But it would be proper to begin
with the reciprocal nomination, on both sides, of persons, who,
at least with the character of agents, might reciprocally inform
their constituents of what might conduce to a knowledge of the
interests of the two nations, without prejudice to either. This
first step appears necessary to lead to the proposed object."
By this, it would seem, that this power is more disposed to
pursue a track of negotiation, similar to that which Spain has
CORRESPONDENCE. 459
done. I consider this answer as definitive of all further measures,
under our commission to Portugal. That to Spain was super-
seded by proceedings in another line. That to Prussia is con-
cluded by actual treaty ; to Tuscany will probably be so ; and
perhaps to Denmark ; and these, I believe, will be the sum of the
effects of our commissions for making treaties of alliance. Eng-
land shows no disposition to treat. France, should her ministers
be able to keep the ground of the Arret of August 1784 against
the clamors of her merchants, and should they be disposed, here-
after, to give us more, very probably will not bind herself to it
by treaty, but keep her regulations dependent on her own will.
Sweden will establish a free port at St. Bartholemew's, which,
perhaps, will render any new engagement, on our part, unneces-
sary. Holland is so immovable in her system of colony admin-
istration, that, as propositions to her, on that subject, would be
desperate, they had better not be made. You will perceive by
the letter No. 11, from the Marquis de La Fayette, that there is a
a possibility of an overture from the Emperor. A hint from the
charge des affaires of Naples, lately, has induced me to suppose
something of the same kind from thence. But the advanced
period of our commissions now offers good cause for avoiding
to begin what probably cannot be terminated during their con-
tinuance ; and with respect to these two, and all other powers
not before mentioned, I doubt whether the advantages to be de-
rived from treaties with them will countervail the additional
embarrassments they may impose on the States, when they shall
proceed to make those commercial arrangements necessary to
counteract the designs of the British cabinet. I repeat it, there-
fore, that the conclusion of the treaty with Prussia, and the
probability of others with Denmark, Tuscany, and the Barbary
States, may be expected to wind up the proceedings of the gen-
eral commissions. I think that, in possible events, it may be
advantageous to us, by treaties with Prussia, Denmark, and
Tuscany, to have secured ports in Northern and Mediterranean
seas. I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the highest respect
and esteem, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
TO MR. ADAMS.
PARIS, October 11, 1785
DEAR SIR, Colonel Franks and Mr. Randolph arrived last
night. This enables me to send copies of all the Barbary papers
to Congress by the Mr. Fitzhughs, together with the Prussian
treaty. They wait till to-morrow for that purpose. Considering
the treaty with Portugal as among the most important to the
United States, I, some time ago, took occasion at Versailles to
ask the Portuguese Ambassador if he had not received an an-
swer from his court on the subject of our treaty. He said not,
but that he would write again. His secretaire de ambassade
called on me two days ago, and translated into French, as fol-
lows, a paragraph of a letter from his minister to the ambassa-
dor : " Relativement a ce que V. E. nous a fait part de ce qu'elle
avoit parle avec le ministre de PAmeriqtie, cette puissance doit
etre di/j.1 persuadce par d'effets la manure dont ses vaisseaux ont
etc accueillis ici ; et par consequence sa majeste auroit beacoup
de satisfaction a entretenir une parfaite harmonic et bon corre-
spondence entre les monies Etats Unis. Mais il seroit u propos de
commcncer par la nomination rJciproque des deux parties des
personnes, qui, an moins avec la caractere d'agens, informeroient
rcciproquement leurs constituents de ce qui pourroit conduire a.
la connoisance des int^rets des deux nations sans prejudice de 1'im
ou de Pautre. C'est le premier pas qu'il paroit convenable de
donner pour conduire a la fin propos'e." By this, I suppose,
they will prefer proceeding as Spain has done, and that we may
consider it as definitive of our commission to them. I commu-
nicate it to Congress that they may take such other measures for
leading on a negotiation as they may think proper.
You know that the 3d article of instructions of October 29,
1783, to the ministers for negotiating peace, directed them to
negotiate the claim for the prizes taken by the alliance and sent
into Bergen, but delivered up by the Court of Denmark ; you
recollect, also, that this has been deferred in order to be taken up
with the general negotiation for an alliance. Captain Jones,
CORRESPONDENCE. 461
desiring to go to America, proposed to me that he should leave
the solicitation of this matter in the hands of Doctor Bancroft,
and to ask you to negotiate it, through the minister of Denmark
at London. The delay of Baron Waltersdorf is one reason for
this. Your better acquaintance with the subject is a second.
The Danish minister here being absent, is a third. And a fourth
and more conclusive one is that, having never acted as one of
the commissioners for negotiating the peace, I feel an impropriety
in meddling with it at all, and much more to become the principal
agent. I therefore told Captain Jones I would solicit your care
of this business. I believe he writes to you on the subject.
Mr. Barclay sets out in two or three days. Lambe will follow
as soon as the papers can be got from this ministry. Having no
news, I shall only add assurances of the esteem with which I
am, dear Sir, your friend and servant.
TO MESSRS. VAN STAPHORST.
PAUIS, October 12, 1785.
GENTLEMEN, The receipt of your favor, of September the
19th, should not have been so long unacknowledged, but that I
have been peculiarly and very closely engaged ever since it came
to hand.
With respect to the expediency of the arrangement you pro-
pose to make with Mr. Parker, I must observe to you, that it
would be altogether out of my province to give an official opin-
ion for your direction. These transactions appertain altogether
to the commissioners of the treasury, to whom you have very
properly written on the occasion. I shall always be willing,
however, to apprise you of any facts I may be acquainted with,
and which might enable you to proceed with more certainty ;
and even to give my private opinion, where I am acquainted
with the subject, leaving you the most perfect liberty to give it
what weight you may think proper. In the present case, I can-
not give even a private opinion, because I am not told what are
462 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
precisely the securities offered by Mr. Parker. So various are
the securities of the United States, that unless they are precisely
described by their dates, consideration, and other material cir-
cumstances, no man on earth can say what they are worth.
One fact, however, is certain, that all debts of any considerable
amount contracted by the United States, while their paper money
existed, are subject to a deduction, and not payable at any fixed
period. I think I may venture to say, also, that there are no
debts of the United States, " on the same footing with the money
loaned by Holland," except those due to the Kings of France
and Spain. However, I hope you will soon receive the answer
of the commissioners, which alone can decide authoritatively
what is to be done.
Congress have thought proper to entrust to Mr. Adams and
myself a certain business, which may eventually call for great
advances of money, perhaps four hundred thousand livres or up-
wards. They have authorized us to draw for this on their funds
in Holland. The separate situation of Mr. Adams and myself,
rendering joint drafts inconvenient, we have agreed that they
shall be made by him alone. You will be pleased, therefore, to
give the same credit to these bills, drawn by him, as if they were
also subscribed by me.
I have the honor to be, with high respect, Gentlemen, your
most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO MONSIEUR DESBORDES.
PARTS, October 12, 1785.
SIR, There are in the prison of St. Pol de Leon six or seven
citizens of the United States of America, charged with having
attempted a contraband of tobacco, but, as they say themselves,
forced into that port by stress of weather. I believe that they
are innocent. Their situation is described me to be as deplora-
ble as should be that of men found guilty of the worst of
crimes. They are in close jail, allowed three sous a day only,
CORRESPONDENCE. 463
and unable to speak a word of the language of the country. 1
hope their distress, which it is my duty to relieve, and the recom-
mendation of Mr. Barclay to address myself to you, will apolo-
gize for the liberty I take of asking you to advise them what to
do for their defence, to engage some good lawyer for them, and
to pass to them the pecuniary reliefs necessary. I write to Mr.
Lister Asquith, the owner of the vessel, that he may draw bills
on me, from time to time, for a livre a day for every person of
them, and what may be necessary to engage a lawyer for him.
I will pray the favor of you to furnish him money for his bills,
drawn on me for these purposes, which I will pay on sight.
You will judge if he should go beyond this allowance, and be
so good as to reject the surplus. I must desire his lawyer to send
me immediately a state of their case, and let me know in what
court their process is, and when it is likely to be decided. I
hope the circumstances of the case will excuse the freedom I
take ; and I have the honor to be, with great respect, Sir, your
most obedient humble servant.
TO HOGENDORP.
TAIUS, October 13, 1785.
DEAR SIR, Having been much engaged lately, I have been
unable sooner to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of Sep-
tember the 8th. What you are pleased to say on the subject of
my Notes is more than they deserve. The condition in which
you first saw them would prove to you how hastily they had
been originally written, as you may remember the numerous in-
sertions I had made in them from time to time, when I could find
a moment for turning to them from other occupations. I have
never yet seen Monsieur de Buffon. He has been in the country
all the summer. I sent him a copy of the book, and have only
heard his sentiments on one particular of it, that of the identity
of the mammoth and elephant. As to this, he retains his opin-
ion that they are the same. If you had formed any considerable
464 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
expectations from our revised code of laws, you will be much
disappointed. It contains not more than three or four laws which
could strike the attention of a foreigner. Had it been a digest
of all our laws, it would not have been comprehensible or in-
structive but to a native. 'But it is still less so, as it digests only
the British statutes and our own acts of Assembly, which are but
a supplementary part of our law. The great basis of it is ante-
rior to the date of the Magna Charta, which is the oldest statute
extant. The only merit of this work is, that it may remove from
our book shelves about twenty folio volumes of our statutes, re-
taining all the parts of them which cither their own merit or the
established system of laws required.
You ask me what are those operations of the British nation
which are likely to befriend us, and how they will produce this
effect ? The British government, as you may naturally suppose,
have it much at heart to reconcile their nation to the loss of
America. This is essential to the repose, perhaps even to the
safety of the King and his ministers. The most effectual engines
for this purpose are the public papers. You know well that that
government always kept a kind of standing army of news-wri-
ters, who, without any regard to truth, or to what should be like
truth, invented and put into the papers whatever might serve the
ministers. This suffices with the mass of the people, who have
no means of distinguishing the false from the true paragraphs of
a newspaper. When forced to acknowledge our independence,
they were forced to redouble their efforts to keep the nation quiet.
Instead of a few of the papers formerly engaged, they now en-
gaged every one. No paper, therefore, comes out without a dose
of paragraphs against America. These are calculated for a sec-
ondary purpose also, that of preventing the emigrations of their
people to America. They dwell very much on American bank-
ruptcies. To explain these would require a long detail, but
would show you that nine-rtenths of these bankruptcies are truly
English bankruptcies, in no wise chargeable on America. How-
ever, they have produced effects the most desirable of all others
for us. They have destroyed our credit, and thus checked our
CORRESPONDENCE. 465
disposition to luxury ; and, forcing our merchants to buy no more
than they have ready money to pay for, they force them to go
to those markets where that ready money will buy most. Thus
you see, they check our luxury, they force us to connect our-
selves with all the world, and they prevent foreign emigrations
to our country, all of which I consider as advantageous to us.
They are doing us another good turn. They attempt, without
disguise, to possess themselves of the carriage of our produce,
and to prohibit our own vessels from participating of it. This
has raised a general indignation in America. The States see,
however, that their constitutions have provided no means of
counteracting it. They are, therefore, beginning to invest Con-
gress with the absolute power of regulating their commerce, only
reserving all revenue arising from it to the State in which it is
levied. This will consolidate our federal building very much,
and for this we shall be indebted to the British.
You ask what I think on the expediency of encouraging our
States to be commercial ? Were I to indulge my own theory, I
should wish them to practise neither commerce nor navigation,
but to stand, with respect to Europe, precisely on the footing of
China. We should thus avoid wars, and all our citizens would
be husbandmen. Whenever, indeed, our numbers should so in-
crease as that our produce would overstock the markets of those
nations who should come to seek it, the farmers must either em-
ploy the surplus of their time in manufactures, or the surplus of
our hands must be employed in manufactures or in navigation.
But that day would, I think, be distant, and we should long
keep our workmen in Europe, while Europe should be drawing
rough materials, and even subsistence from America. But this
is theory only, and a theory which the servants of America are
not at liberty to follow. Our people have a decided taste for nav-
igation and commerce. They take this from their mother coun-
try ; and their servants are in duty bound to calculate all their
measures on this datum : we wish to do it by throwing open all
the doors of commerce, and knocking off its shackles. But as
this cannot be done for others, unless they will do it for us, and
VOL. i. 30
466 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
there is no great probability that Europe will do this, I suppose
we shall be obliged to adopt a system which may shackle them
in our ports, as^ they do us in theirs.
With respect to the sale of our lands, that cannot begin till a
considerable portion shall have been surveyed. They cannot
begin to survey till the fall of the leaf of this year, nor to sell
probably till the ensuing spring. So that it will be yet a twelve-
month before we shall be able to judge of the efficacy of our
land office to sink our national debt. It is made a fundamental,
that the proceeds shall be solely and sacredly applied as a sinking
fund to discharge the capital only of the debt.
It is true that the tobaccos of Virginia go almost entirely to
England. The reason is, the people of that State owe a great
debt there, which they are paying as fast as they can. I think I
have now answered your several queries, and shall be happy to
receive your reflections on the same subjects, and at all times to
hear of your welfare, and to give you assurances of the esteem,
with which I have the honor to be, dear Sir, your most obedi-
ent, and most humble servant.
TO J. BANNISTER, JUNIOR.
PARIS, October 15, 17S5.
DEAR SIR, I should sooner have answered the paragraph in
your letter, of September the 19th, respecting the best seminary
for the education of youth in Europe, but that it was necessary
for me to make inquiries on the subject. The result of these has
been, to consider the competition as resting between Geneva and
Rome. They are equally cheap, and probably are equal in the
course of education pursued. The advantage of Geneva is, that
students acquire there the habit of speaking French. The ad-
vantages of Rome are, the acquiring a local knowledge of a spot
so classical and so celebrated ; the acquiring the true pronounci-
ation of the Latin language ; a just taste in the fine arts, more
CORRESPONDENCE. 467
particularly those of painting, sculpture, architecture, and music ;
a familiarity with those objects and processes of agriculture
which experience has shown best adapted to a climate like ours ;
and lastly, the advantage of a fine climate for health. It is prob-
able, too, that by being boarded in a French family, the habit
of speaking that language may be obtained. I do not count on
any advantage to be derived, in Geneva, from a familiar acquaint-
ance with the principles of that government. The late revolu-
tion has rendered it a tyrannical aristocracy, more likely to give
ill than good ideas to an American. I think the balance in fa-
vor of Rome. Pisa is sometimes spoken of as a place of educa-
tion. But it does not offer the first and third of the advantages
of Rome. But why send an American youth to Europe for
education ? What are the objects of an useful American educa-
tion ? Classical knowledge, modern languages, chiefly French,
Spanish, and Italian ; Mathematics, Natural 'philosophy, Natural
history, Civil history, and Ethics. In Natural philosophy, I mean
to include Chemistry and Agriculture, and in natural history, to
include Botany, as well as the other branches of those depart-
ments. It is true that the habit of speaking the modern lan-
guages cannot be so well acquired in America ; but every other
article can be as well acquired at William and Mary college, as
at any place in Europe. When college education is done with,
and a young man is to prepare himself for public life, he must
cast his eyes (for America) either on Law or Physics. For the
former, where can he apply so advantageously as to Mr. Wythe ?
For the latter, he must come to Europe : the medical class of
students, therefore, is the only one which need come to Europe.
Let us view the disadvantages of sending a youth to Europe.
To enumerate them all, would require a volume. I will select
a few. If he goes to England, he learns drinking, horse racing,
and boxing. These are the peculiarities of English education.
The following circumstances are common to education in that,
and the other countries of Europe. He acquires a fondness for
European luxury and dissipation, and a contempt for the sim-
plicity of his own country ; he is fascinated with the privileges
468 JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
of the European aristocrats, and sees, with abhorrence, the lovely
equality which the poor enjoy with the rich, in his own coun-
try ; he contracts a partiality for aristocracy or monarchy ; he
forms foreign friendships which will never be useful to him, and
loses the seasons of life for forming, in his own country, those
friendships which, of all others, are the most faithful and per-
manent ; he is led, by the strongest of all the human passions,
into a spirit for female intrigue, destructive of his own and oth-
ers' happiness, or a passion for whores, destructive of his health,
and, in both cases, learns to consider fidelity to the marriage bed
as an ungentlemanly practice, and inconsistent with happiness ;
he recollects the voluptuary dress and arts of the European women,
and pi
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